Dead Famous
by Torenza
Summary: [Complete] InuKag. Au. The most wanted prize bachelor is up for grabs... but the one who gets him is the only one who doesn’t want to keep him...
1. The Non Believer

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Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Period. I live in a box under the bridge and occasionally creep out to go to an Internet café to write fanfiction. You can try and sue me but you really won't get much.

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Author's Notes: Starting yet another story ^_^ which doesn't have anything to do with dead people despite the title. And just so you're warned, Kikyo's part in this fic is a larger one than usual – but she's not a bad guy (girl, even). I don't do Kikyo-bashing (despite the fact that every time she comes onto the screen in the anime I often cuss very loudly).

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Dead Famous

Chapter 1

The Non-Believer

They were doing it again. Just staring… listlessly… along with everyone else along the street. Kagome rounded the corner of the corner shop (aptly named) and came to a dead stop upon seeing the lines of teenage girls along the pavement before her. They were all leaning against the chainlink fence and either chatting excitedly to one another, or just staring across to the other side of the road.

Kagome sucked thoughtfully on her ice lolly as she followed their gazes curiously to find out what on earth held the attention of so many teenagers. Girls no less. When she saw it she sighed and rolled her eyes.

Figured… just another lame poster board being put up.

Kagome changed course and decided to take the long way home, rather than push her way through the gabbling throngs of fools who had turned up like a bunch of salivating dogs just to watch some dumb poster being put up. She pitied the girls who were stupid enough to-

"Kagome! Hey Kagome!"

She froze and turned sharply to see her three friends standing among the rest of the girls waving cheerfully to her.

Figured…

Ayumi's wavy hair bounced as she trotted away from the others towards Kagome, a grin plastered on her face. "What took you so long? We thought you were going to miss it!"

"Miss what?" Kagome looked towards the board being worked on. "That? But it's going to be around for weeks – it hardly needs constant watching."

"Easy for you to say." Yuka commented as she approached with Eri in close tow. "The competition's ending tomorrow."

"Competition?" Kagome echoed uselessly. Obviously she wasn't as up to date as her friends were.

"Didn't you even read the poster?" Yuka pointed. "Look already!"

Kagome took a deep breath and held it as she reluctantly swung her gaze from Yuka's face to the large board across the road set up high on the side of a building. There was just text… announcing some kind of competition that ended on the eighteenth of May. Tomorrow. She read aloud for the benefit of the doubt. "Do you want the chance to spend a week in a sea side mansion? Do you want to attend an awards evening and meet all the stars? Do you want the chance to spend seven glorious days in the company of Japan's most wanted… I don't believe this… of Japan's most wanted young bachelor."

At this point her friends were beside themselves with little squeals of delight. "A whole week with _him_!" Ayumi cried.

"He's so hot!" Eri clapped her hands over her heart. "He's just so frustratingly cute!"

"He's ruined me for anyone else!" Yuka joined in. "What would I give to win this thing!"

Kagome watched them, less than impressed. "Guys, I'm embarrassed for you." She sighed. "The only reason you like him is because he's rich and famous and good looking. But what else has he got that any other kid his age hasn't already got? If he wasn't famous you wouldn't look twice at him."

"With muffins of steel like that, of course we'd look five times at least!" Yuka turned on her, obviously outraged that she dare bad-mouth _him_. "I know your type Kagome – you pretend to dislike him because he's better than us – but if you ever met him you'd start blushing and drooling just like the rest of us."

"He tells you he's better than you and you believe him!" Kagome loved her friends, she really did, but when they got down on their knees like sheep and worshipped with the flock she couldn't help but feel a little saddened. "What happened to being rebellious?! To defying convention and singing our bohemian rhapsody-"

"Hey – they've put up the last board!" Eri interrupted and all heads turned to finish reading the board.

Kagome just raised an eyebrow. "To win all you have to do is answer this simple question. When was Inuyasha born? A, 1986; B, 1603; or C, Paris." Oh that was burning the brain cells… "Gee, I better call in three times to make sure I get it right."

"A! It's A!" Ayumi screeched. She grabbed Yuka and Eri by the arms. "We should go enter the competition now! We'll be one of the first – we're bound to win!"

Kagome quickly backed off. "Girls, I have like a ton of homework to do – so I better get going. See you tomorrow, ok?" She waved with a smile as she trotted off down the long route home (seeing as how the short cut was blocked with overexcited females). 

There were three phone boxes, and fortunately the three friends managed to dive into one of them before the rest of the crush. After all, they'd cleverly thought ahead and positioned themselves close to a phone. Yuka took charge in her usual brusque and bossy manner, holding the phone to her ear and punching out the number that was only just being pasted up onto the board.

"It's ringing!" she told them in a whispered frenzy. The other two couldn't contain themselves.

"It's unlikely that we'll win, but no harm trying." Eri pointed out. Ayumi nodded but darted her attention back to Yuka quickly.

"It's answer phone." The girl told her friends.

__

"-so please leave the answer to the contest question after the tone, along with your name and number so we may contact you. Thank you."

There was a beep and Yuka took a deep breath. "It's A! Inuyasha was born in nineteen eighty six! And my name is Yu…"

She suddenly stopped, realising how unfair it was to give her name. Ayumi and Eri blinked at her in surprise as she stopped talking, realising the situation. Then a sudden, rather cruel thought occurred to Yuka.

"My name is Higurashi. Kagome Higurashi."

^_^

"My name is… Higurashi. Kagome Higurashi…" Kagome said slowly, speaking aloud the words that she wrote down in her English exercise book.

She stopped there and wracked her brains for something else to say about herself. "I'm very normal… and… ordinary…"

Souta, whilst flicking around the Tv channels on the living room sofa suddenly stopped on a documentary that interested him. It was about a certain white haired, seventeen year old superstar. "Cool! This guy lives in a palace!" Souta called out eagerly.

Kagome scribbled out the last sentence she'd written and tried again. "I'm very strange… and… abnormal… I don't like Inuyasha…"

Well actually. She didn't dislike him… she just felt very indifferent about the whole ordeal. So what he was famous? Had he worked for it? No. His mother had been famous, rich and beautiful (and an underwear model) and his father had been a successful politician. He was just living off the fat that his parents had provided him with. He'd never lifted a finger for it. All he did was look pretty and smile – and he got richer.

Ok… maybe it was less indifference and more resentment.

But perhaps she was just tired of all the conversations she had with her friends turning at one time or another to the topic of Inuyasha – the urban god! Perhaps she was just tired of the fact that she was struggling to get through school and earn some good grades and a good entrance into a good school so she could get a good college degree and a good job so she'd be able to make a decent life for herself. He never had to worry about things like that. And the little people like herself just worshipped him for it.

Kagome clenched her pen a moment before continuing with her homework. "I have black hair… brown eyes… and a chip on the shoulder the size of an umbrella…" No, that didn't sound right…

~*~

The lines had been open for almost twenty four hours exactly. That's all the time that was needed. Already over eighty million people had entered the competition – which was well over half the entire population of Japan. Kagome didn't pay that much attention to the statistics and whatnot, but even so, her friends literally man-handled her all the way down to the corner café where most kids liked to hang out after school – but today it was to hear the announced winner of the contest.

"You guys do know that there is no chance that you'll win right?" Kagome pointed out as they dragged her into the café. "More people have entered this competition than have played the lotto this week – the chances of winning this is worse than winning a billion yen!"

Eri ran up to the waiter and quickly requested the volume be raised on the large Tv in the corner of the room so they could watch the announcement.

"Oh we know." Yuka said primly as the four girls sat down at a round table. "We didn't even enter."

"Excuse me?" Kagome blinked at them in surprise. "But I thought you guys were fanatics!" If they weren't fanatics, then she dreaded to think what _real _Inuyasha fanatics were like… stalkers most likely (though Ayumi wasn't far off from that class).

"Well, the chances of us winning are like winning the national lottery. And I've never won that, so I won't win this either." Yuka shrugged, seemingly oblivious to what Kagome had just pointed out before. "Anyway – we're only here to find out who the lucky girl is who won."

"Or lucky guy." Eri pointed out.

"Ok." Kagome smiled as she got out her Maths text book. "I'll just finish these equations while I have the time."

Her friends mumbled something good-naturedly like 'Workaholic' as they turned their attention to the Tv set.

"_And we'll be announcing the winner of the competition of 2003 after these messages from our sponsors._" The presenter on the show said before the adverts flashed up onto the screen.

"Did you hear that this contest got more people calling in than there were votes cast in the general election." Eri asked as she nimbled on some chips they'd ordered.

"Well, who cares about who the prime ministers is?" Yuka challenged. "This is Inuyasha we're talking about – he's so much more interesting!"

"Hey," Ayumi struck a brilliant idea. "I think Inuyasha should run for prime minister. Everyone would vote for him wouldn't they."

Kagome snorted contemptuously at this. "Hah – he probably knows less about how to run a country than he knows about making beans on toast!"

A valid point, but they reckoned Kagome was just saying that for the sake of arguing with their admiration of _the hot dude_. They decided to just ignore her grumbling and focus on the broadcast. Kagome did the same and tuned out the noise around her as she got back on with finishing math problems.

It was a few minutes before the presenter appeared back on the Tv, though the chatter in the café nearly drowned out the man's voice. "_And now's time to announce the winner. This lucky person will driven out in a private limousine in just an hour from now – straight to the Seaside Villa we previewed earlier… now…_" he was handed a golden envelope as a drum roll sounded in the back ground. He tore it open and waited a full fifteen seconds, letting the tension build horribly until he looked up at the camera with a grin. "_And the winner is – Kagome Higurashi_!"

There was a big cheer in the studio that made a lot of noise in the speakers. Eri's elbow slipped off the table and she jarred her body painfully, Yuka and Ayumi stared in pure horror and shock at the television. The other students in the café who knew Kagome by name turned stunned eyes on the girl.

"Damn…" Kagome cursed mildly, as she reached for her rubber. "Does anyone have a calculator?"

Obviously, Kagome had missed the announcement.

"_Let's call our lucky little starlet now, shall we?_" the presenter began and a ringing phone tone could be heard on the speakers of the television. A few moments later, Kagome's bag started to vibrate and emit a loud melody to the little ditty of 'Baa, baa blacksheep'. Those in the café who didn't know Kagome's name now turned to look at her in stunned shock – their brains making the connection between the phone on the Tv, and the phone going off across the room.

"Oh – excuse me." She muttered sheepishly as she realised everyone in the café was staring at her – presumably for having such a horrendous tune on her mobile phone. Kagome quickly ducked into her bag and pulled out her phone. "Hello?"

She nearly jumped out of her own skin when she heard her own voice echoed on the Tv after a two second delay. Kagome was slow on the best of days… but she wasn't that slow. And she froze in as much horror as her friends when it began to dawn on her rapidly just what was going on.

"Congratulations!" a voice told her in her ear. "You've won the 2003 Inuyasha prize draw! How do you feel?"

Yuka emitted a feeble whine and had laid her head down on the table, banging the surface with her fist in frustration. Kagome stared at her a moment before blinking at her other two friends who merely blinked back.

"Miss Higurashi?" the man on her phone pressed. Looking at the Tv she could see him grinning from ear to ear like a true happy-go-lucky presenter. "How do you feel?"

When Kagome still didn't answer he made some joke about her having fainted in shock – it was enough to make Kagome remember that she had a voice that she could probably use at a time like this. "I won?" she whispered.

"In a one in eighty million chance!" the people in the back of the Tv studio were cheering loudly.

Kagome was finding herself a little short of breath. The whole café had their eyes on her… but she felt like the whole world was watching her.

"How do you feel?" the host asked again over the din behind him.

Confusion was one emotion Kagome was probably feeling very strongly right then. Wonderment, embarrassment, awe, horror… a little queasy and light-headed. She wondered if she'd fallen asleep on the table and was dreaming that she'd won an impossible competition. But after a few moments of sitting there she realised that everything was very, very real. The country was listening to her… and probably _him_…

A giddy feeling rose in her stomach and she quickly passed the phone to Ayumi so she could let out a very heart-felt scream of excitement. Normally she was ashamed of her friends acting like total fanatics, but right then she didn't even care that she herself had just turned into a twit. "I won!" she squealed. "I won! I really won!"

Ayumi was smiling cheerfully into the phone. "She's very happy." Ayumi was cool under any situation… or just on a different planet from everyone else.

Kagome continued screaming and laughing as people rushed around to congratulate her, giving her claps on the back and beaming – she was even hugging complete strangers and other girls that she didn't know particularly well other than that they went to the same school. "I won!"

Eri blew out a heavy sigh and slumped forward onto the table next to Yuka. "Didn't we tell her that she was the type to turn into a drooling moron given the chance?"

"Yeah, but I didn't mean it!" Yuka wailed forlornly.

Ayumi hung up the phone with a click. "They say the limo is coming around right now. Only Kagome's allowed to get in."

Eri groaned loudly as Yuka watched Kagome celebrating in true Inuyasha fanatic style – scream a lot and hug anything that moved, which included the café cat. "I'm going to kill her. I'm really going to kill her and take her name and get into that limo and drive off and laugh about it…"

Ayumi smiled good-naturedly and patted Yuka and Eri's backs. "Don't worry, there's always next time."

~*~

"Hey, mom!" Souta called from the living room. He was sat two inches in front of the Tv screen, plastered to the name that kept popping up in the corner. "Kagome's just won a vacation with Inuyasha!"

"That's nice, honey." Mrs Higurashi called back, she was used to his little tales.

"No, really! They just announced the winner and it's someone called Kagome Higurashi – and it sounds like our Kagome!"

Mrs Higurashi pottered into the living room with a wet dish and a table cloth in her hands. She peered at the Tv a moment before her eyes flew open in shock and the dish flew from her hands.

Fortunately it bounced on the soft carpet.

"Kagome's _won_?" Her mother whispered hoarsely. "How big was this draw?"

"Big." Souta held his hands far apart to demonstrate.

"My word…"

The front door opened and slammed in rapid succession. Kagome hurled past the living room doorway on her way to the stairs. Mrs Higurashi spun. "Kagome?! What's this on the Telly about you winning-"

"The 2003 Inuyasha Prize Draw – in which Inuyasha himself is the prize!" Kagome yelled back in one breath.

Up in her room she was busy digging out her old suitcases and flinging them on her bed to empty her drawers into them. "The limo dropped me off here to pack!" she called to her family. "It's going to take me straight to his villa on the coast!"

Even from upstairs Kagome heard her younger brother's gasp of "Whoa!" Mrs Higurashi seemed to be in a state of shock. Grandpa came in from his duty of sweeping leaves off the Shrine paths. "There's a limo outside. Has Kagome finally decided to date that rich kid Hojo?"

"No, dad, she's going with Inuyasha."

"Inuyasha? Who's Inuyasha?"

Kagome stifled a giggle. Only someone like her Grandpa would be totally oblivious to what interested today's youth. He was stuck somewhere in the fifties – and he was staying there.

Wrestling the zip shut on both her cases, she hauled them along behind her as she scuttled back down the stairs. She left them in the hallway as she quickly raced to bid farewell to her family. She pecked her Grandpa on the cheek, gave Souta a loud kiss smack on the forehead and ruffled his hair before turning to her mother and embracing her tightly. "I'll see you all in a week!"

"This is so sudden, Kagome." Her mother looked baffled.

"I promise I'll ring you tonight and talk about it," Kagome kissed her on the cheek and hurried back to her bags to drag them out of the door.

Three men were coming up the Shrine steps dressed in matching black suits and dark shades. Very professional. Two of them took her bags and the third started guiding her back down towards the limo. Kagome twisted to look at her family who were all gathered in the doorway looking stumped.

"I'll call you!" Kagome called and waved.

They watched as she was ushered into the back of the awaiting limo and driven off in an elegant fashion. Souta cocked his head and turned to Grandpa. "Inuyasha's the richest, bestest and most fashionabalist seventeen year old in the country." He said, answering his grandfather's earlier question. "If not this side of the world."

Grandpa made a tutting sound with his tongue as he glanced at his daughter. "You women always like to aim high don't you?"

~*~

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"Inuyasha?!"

The two figures lounging at the pool side glanced up towards the villa before both turning to one another.

"It's ok, Angelique." Inuyasha said dismissively to the model sitting just behind him as he tipped the hat back down over his eyes and got comfy again. "It's only Kikyo having a stress."

The French girl, not having a clue what he'd just said, just shrugged and went back to rubbing the sun lotion over his back and shoulders. She smoothed her hands down his arms and leant forward to purr in his ear. "Je t'aime…"

"Yeah… Je t'aime back at ya." _Whatever that meant_, he thought vaguely. It seemed to make her happy though as she squeezed her arms around his shoulders and kissed his neck.

That was how Kikyo found them.

"Where have you been?" she demanded coldly as she descended the steps from the villa to the pool that overlooked the beach and the sea below. "The winner was announced half an hour ago and everyone's keeping their eyes peeled for you and you're slothing around the pool with… with… Who is that, by the way?"

"This is Angelique. But we've gotten close so I like to call her Angel." He responded happily.

"And… how long have you known Angel?" Kikyo asked in a chiding tone.

"Ooh…" Inuyasha glanced at the model as if considering. "At least five hours now."

Kikyo briefly flicked her eyes heavenward in a short prayer before bringing herself back to the matter at hand. "Well please tell Miss Angel to disengage her lips from your neck before she leaves a mark and go back to whatever modelling agency which leant her to you."

"Can't." Inuyasha gave a one shouldered shrug since Angelique was busy kissing the other. "She only speaks French and I-"

"Don't speak French, I know." How the hell had these two come across each other then? Kikyo decided not ask questions she knew she would get a straight answer for. "Well you can't keep her."

"But she's so cute-"

"In less than an hour a schoolgirl will be arriving to spend a week here." Kikyo interrupted bluntly. "This is the biggest offer you have ever given anyone – and I will not have you give off bad press by ignoring the girl and hanging around with your French floozy the whole time. You will devote your undivided attention to her and… are you even listening to me?"

"I'm trying hard not to."

Kikyo reined in her temper. The only person who could ever make her lose it was Inuyasha. "Get dressed and get ready to greet her arrival."

"Who's arrival?"

"The girl who won the contest!"

"Right, right…"

Kikyo shifted her footing impatiently, eyeing the French model who was still draping herself over her Star. "Tell her to leave already!"

"But I don't speak French." Inuyasha repeated. "But you do – so tell her that she's sweet and all but I'll have to see her Wednesday."

Kikyo translated shortly to the girl who looked up at her as if only just noticing she was there. The French model listened until she'd finished before pulling a pout and giving Inuyasha one last doe eyed look before slinking away back into the villa. Kikyo turned her head away as the girl passed her. She didn't like models very much…

"So." Inuyasha lay back on the sun-lounge with his hands behind his head. "What's on the schedule today?"

"I just told you," Kikyo folded her arms. "The girl who won the competition will be here in less than an hour. _She _is your schedule for the next week. You work around her, so no abandoning her to go partying, no gallivanting off with girlfriends, and no sulking about it."

"Only if she's not a complete dog." Inuyasha slanted a look at her. "No pun intended."

"She can't be ugly or plain. Miroku did a check on the entries and selecting one of the best looking girls to win." Kikyo told him. "People don't want pimple-faced bird-brains with harelips and a lisp to win."

"You guys rigged it?" Inuyasha smirked. "Nice… So what do you know about her?"

"I don't know anything about her."

"You're my agent – you're supposed to know these things." Inuyasha pointed out impatiently.

"Wait a minute," Kikyo fished a hand into her pocket and pulled out her ear-piece and microphone. She hooked it around her ear and tapped the speaker button. "Miroku, what are the stats for the competition winner?"

She waited a few moments for the response. Inuyasha eyed her rapidly tapping foot with annoyance while the pause stretched on.

"Kagome Higurashi…" Kikyo relayed to Inuyasha. "Fifteen, attending the last year of Middle School in Toshima… Lives in a Shrine with mother, brother and an old man we either suspect to be her grandfather or an old retired batman… that's not funny Miroku."

"What does she look like?" Inuyasha asked.

"Is that so important to you?" Kikyo scowled at him. "You can't touch her Inuyasha – I swear if you lay a hand on this schoolgirl – if you lead her on in any way then I will string you up by your-"

"Relax! I just wanna know!" He snapped back.

Kikyo pressed a finger to the ear piece. "What's her attractiveness value?" It was a moment before she relayed the response to Inuyasha. "He says that she's about as valuable as me… and now he's laughing." Kikyo frowned. "I don't get it."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "I'll go get dressed." As he walked past Kikyo he heard her take a loud sniff. He stopped and gave her a long look. "What now?"

"Nothing." She looked away pointedly.

He sniffed himself. "What? Do I smell bad?"

"You smell like Channel No. 5." Kikyo told him evenly.

"Oh – that was what the French Angel was wearing when-"

"Too much information." Kikyo held up a hand. "Just go take a shower and wash it off. You're not greeting the winner smelling like another woman – we have to give the best impression or she's going to come away complaining what bad company you really are."

"Gee thanks." He grumbled as he stomped off back into the villa.

Really, this girl was going to ruin his entire week. He wouldn't be able to have any fun with her around…

She was going to be more trouble than she was worth. But Kikyo seemed convinced that she was worth it, and he didn't want to risk upsetting Kikyo in case she quit.

Kikyo happened to be a very good agent.

Not very friendly _and _pretty cruel and ruthless… but that made her the best in the business.

~*~

Kagome was beginning to have her doubts.

By now she had played with all the gadgets the back of the limo had to offer. That or broken them. Now she simply sat, half turned in her seat to watch the scenery swim lazily past the tinted windows.

The limo smelled odd… like leather sprayed with two many chemicals. It made her nose twitch and her stomach uneasy. She learnt to ignore the smell after a while and wondered about what the week had in store for her.

After getting over the initial shock and joy that she had won something for the first time in her life – and not just some measly raffle – but one big national competition that most people would kill for a chance at. It was the fact that she was currently lording it over the entire female population of Japan that had her so exciting…

Meeting the famous Inuyasha, however, didn't have her so enthusiastic.

As far as she was concerned she still didn't like him anymore than she had that morning. He was one of the many stars that irritated her. Because they were rich they thought it gave them a right to throw it around and be snobbish and rude. Because they were famous they thought they could get away with _murder_…

It had only been a year ago that Inuyasha had allegedly been involved in some nasty business. The headlines for the best part of that Summer had been about Inuyasha, guns and drugs, usually in the same sentence.

But everyone seemed to have forgotten about that business now. Apparently he was so adorable that people couldn't help but forgive him.

__

If he wasn't rich and famous he would be in prison now… Kagome thought darkly as she frowned at the bikini clad group of women that the limo passed. They 'yoohoo'ed and waved at the passing vehicle – while one even flashed the contents of her bikini.

Kagome inwardly groaned. They probably thought that Inuyasha was inside the limo. Why not? The license plate said 'INU 1'. 

They had entered the _It _section of the coastline now. Where the rich and the exceptionally beautiful liked the hang out. They turned a corner and Kagome found herself looking out over the sandy beaches and aqua coloured sea. They sped along the road along the cliffs while Kagome watched the people down on the beach below. Half the people down there were probably only there to catch a glimpse of someone famous…

Kagome had to wonder what it was about the human race that made them so fascinated with glamorous people. She sighed and leant her head against the cool glass of the window, trying to get a better view of what was up ahead.

She saw it instantly. It was hard to miss after all.

Her throat went dry and if she hadn't been sitting down her knees would have betrayed her. They showed pictures of Inuyasha's dwellings on the Tv all the time, but she'd never seen it for herself, had never really thought about it.

It was breathtaking to say the least…

And she was going to spend a whole week with the nut who lived there?

AN: Tadaa! First chapter over and done with – and hopefully the second should be up soon, along with the actual meeting…


	2. The Chosen One

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Author's Notes: Well… that was a surprisingly good response for a first chapter ^_^ Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I appreciate it a lot!

A few people have expressed a little concern in the direction of this fic, but I'll tell you again that it's not going to be the usual direction ie. not going to glamorise the advantages of being rich and famous. In fact this is supposed to demonstrate the slightly fake side of fame, that its not glamorous, it's not fun and it's incredibly unfair to its losers.

I'll get into that in later chapters though ^_^ Just enjoy it for now.

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 2

The Chosen One

__

He's probably not as bad as I'm making him out to be… Kagome thought as she fidgeted nervously in the back of the limo. She kept glancing up at regular intervals to see the sunny seaside villa only looming closer.

What was amazing was that they were actually _on _the driveway to that villa. There was still half a mile of road left to travel, yet they had passed the main gates two minutes ago – gates which happened to be ten foot high walls topped with barbed wire with uniformed guards with uniform German Shepherds. But Kagome had only vaguely noticed these security features as they passed through the entrance – since she'd been too busy gaping at the _enormous _crowd that had been gathered there.

There must have been hundreds of people cramped together, pushing at each other to get closer – the moment they'd seen the limo approaching Kagome had been able to hear the screams erupting.

Once again Kagome had had the impression that they expected Inuyasha to be inside… she wondered vaguely whether anyone knew for certain whether he was coming and going if all his cars and limos had tinted windows. Kagome had just shrank back from the window slightly and gazed out in a mixture of awe and horror…

Something about this was beginning to feel terribly wrong…

No one was supposed to cheer plain little Kagome on. She wasn't _that _important was she? She went to school and she went to the movies every Saturday night with her friends. She had a cat and lived in a shrine but she wasn't interesting enough to warrant _this _much attention.

They had passed the crowd and Kagome had had to duck out of sight as a volley of blinding flashes went off around them. Photographers… all wanting a picture of whoever was inside. Paparazzi…

"I feel like I've stolen Madonna's life…" she said to no one in particular as the limo began slowing down as it approached the actual villa itself. Kagome felt her palms tingle with nervousness and she prayed that they didn't sweat, no way was she going to embarrass herself at a time like this.

The limo rolled to a casual stop and Kagome smiled anxiously as one of the suited men came around to open her door and help her out. He didn't crack a smile back, and Kagome had flashbacks to some film involving certain men in black suits…

She half expected to have to carry her own bags, but was pleasantly surprised when a couple of people who had been waiting just outside the entrance of the villa came forward, hauled her bags out of the boot and carried them off inside.

She stood in silent awe as she took in what lay before her. It was villa slash mansion slash palace slash hotel. It wasn't as tall as she'd imagined, only a couple of stories high but it spread out across the cliff edge, surrounded by manicured gardens and shady beech and willow trees. Kagome turned in a full circle, trying to see where the gardens ended – but they seemed to stretch on forever. There were a couple of ponds littering the vast terrain… making everything seem lush and green. Everything swayed in the gentle breeze that came with sitting on the coast, but the sun shone brightly, making everything seem ten times more colourful.

If she had the money to buy all this…? In her head she pictured herself buried alive in mountains of gold. Probably not a realistic assumption of what it was like to be rich… in fact she doubted if Inuyasha ever saw a penny of his dosh, not since everything was done with credit card and cheque these days. Not to mention he probably _paid _people to pay his bills for him.

"Like the gardens?" A voice behind her asked.

Kagome pulled herself out of her examination and turned to see a young woman coming towards her. She was dressed pretty much like everyone else, wearing black sheath shirt and pants, the casual uniform of a designer… or a hairdresser. She wore one of those ear pieces with a wire like the other people too, though under one arm she held a clipboard.

"They're nice gardens," Kagome told the older girl, focusing her gaze past her to look at the building. "That place looks like it belongs in Spain."

"Wait till it rains," the other girl was scanning her face and her person, as if searching for something. "Not such a happy sight then."

Kagome found that difficult to believe. Her eyes lingered on the miniature Buckingham Palace before glancing back up the long driveway which she'd just travelled along. It disappeared over a gentle rise in the distance… she couldn't even see the tall fencing that surrounded the grounds or the gate with all the crowds and reporters. It made everything oddly peaceful, but surreal, like she'd just stepped out of the real world and into some secret paradise.

The girl with the clipboard pressed a finger to her earpiece. "Miroku, tell Kikyo that Kagome Higurashi has arrived… thanks." She dropped her hand and turned a warm smile on Kagome. "So you're one lucky girl! Congratulations on winning by the way."

Kagome flushed slightly, beginning to feel a little guilty that she hadn't even entered the contest yet had still walked away with the prize. "Oh… someone had to win I suppose." _I'm kinda wishing it hadn't been me though…_

It still wasn't sinking in yet, even after the shock of having won and the excitement that she was currently famous throughout Japan (and probably on every teenage girl's to-kill list). Then Kagome realised something very valid.

Of all the superstars in the world. The only one she didn't want to meet particularly was Inuyasha. Him and that French model from the Wonderbra advert.

"Come on," The girl turned and beckoned Kagome to follow her. "I'll show you around a little before we get started."

On what, Kagome wondered. She didn't dwell on this as she obediently trotted after the girl up the twenty odd steps to the large glass doors that marked the entrance to the building.

~*~

Inuyasha got the shock of his life when he opened his bedroom door. Still with a towel wrapped around his head from the shower, he came face to face with a startlingly attractive woman. But she wasn't smiling, nor did she seem to be particularly flustered at the sight of him. Not a fan in that case, and he immediately grew worried.

Perhaps an old girlfriend that he'd dumped and forgotten…?

"Um… It's Chizu, isn't it?" he strained for a name to go with the face, discreetly looking past her and up the corridor for some sign of security.

"No, Mr Inuyasha, I'm Nariko Watanabe, reporter for the Sunday Telegram."

"Ah – reporter!" Well that was a relief. He thought he was in trouble for a moment then. "Well… without further ado," he moved past her, setting a brisk pace for the elevator.

"Wait, I'd like to ask you some questions Mr Inuyasha-"

"My favourite colour is red, my favourite food is spaghetti and tomato sauce and if I could have dinner with anyone in the world it would be with myself." He kept on walking.

The reporter hurried after him. "Actually, I wanted to ask you some questions involving your sponsorship of the S.P.C.A."

"The what?" he glanced over at her with a frown.

"Society of Protection again Cruelty to Birds?"

"Oh… yeah, I remember that." Obviously Kikyo had been signing him up for things that he had yet to be aware of.

"But isn't it true that yesterday at the Blossom café, a waiter served you a chicken sandwich?" the reporter looked reproving. "You don't seem to be much into the protection of birds, Mr Inuyasha."

"I was… trying to give it CPR."

"You were eating it."

"That's what it may have looked like…" he reached the elevator and pummelled the call button as fast as Hanyou'ly possible.

"On a lighter note. How are you enjoying the company of your new charge?"

"My new what?"

"The girl who won the competition?" she raised an eyebrow at him. He turned to face her properly for the first time and noticed the pen and pad she had braced in her hands. "Kagome Higurashi." She prompted. "Have you spoken with her yet?"

"Not yet…" he said slowly, eyeing the security camera behind her, trying to hint to whoever might be watching down in the security room that he wanted that woman out of there.

"Well wish her congratulations for me." The reporter said in a pleasant way, but without a smile, so it came off as slightly menacing toward the schoolgirl.

"Ok…" he said even slower than before, knowing he'd forgot to do any such thing for her.

"And one more question?"

Hadn't she already asked enough?!

"Is it true that you are currently dating Angelique Spagni?"

"Who?"

"The Wonderbra model currently featured on the billboards down the streets of Tokyo."

Inuyasha stared at her, non-plussed. "Oh! You mean the French Angel!"

"Pet names. Mm." The woman scribbled something down, just as the elevator opened behind him. Inuyasha backed quickly into the enclosed space and punched the panel – any random button – he just wanted to get those doors closed as fast as possible.

The reporter wasn't done yet, though. She looked up just as the doors began to slide close. "Oh – any sound bites for your S.P.C.A. campaign?"

"Uh…" he gave her thumb's up. "Bird's rock!"

Yeah that would do. The doors finally slid shut all the way and he slumped wearily against the mirrored walls behind him. Damn… reporters were tricky… especially the ones who managed to get a warrant to enter the villa like it was some kind of public building.

Time to check his appearance. He turned to check out his reflection in the mirror and jumped out of his skin when he also spotted Kikyo's reflection beside his. "Whoa!"

"The universe that revolves around you is still shrinking isn't it?" she said drolly. "You don't notice much past your own nose."

"Has anyone told you how creepy you are?"

"Has anyone told you that you look ridiculous with a towel around your head like some sort of Arabian sultan?"

He narrowed his eyes. "Well you're a fine agent. Criticising me at every-"

"I'm your agent, not your yes-man."

"And you let a reporter get in here – catching me off guard!"

"Need to keep you on your toes." She shrugged with a smug look. He had the feeling that perhaps she'd let that last reporter slip through the net deliberately.

"And what was that about that Bird Bashing Society thing… The S Pissy A or something…"

Kikyo contrived to look as though he'd only just reminded her. "Oh, by the way, you're now publicly supporting to S.P.C.A."

"Thanks for the warning…"

"And that sound bite was terrible. 'Bird's are the Best' would have been more suitable."

"Not as catchy though."

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out together. He was heading towards make-up. No way could he manage his hair on his own – he needed a professional to blow-dry it.

"And some changes have been made to the schedule considering the prize-winner."

"Oh?" he absently rubbed his hair with the towel, ignoring the various greetings of other staff down the corridor they moved through who called the odd 'afternoon Mr Inuyasha' as they passed.

"The official greeting is to take place at a press-conference tonight."

"Oh man…"

"Don't sound so down about it." Kikyo mildly admonished him. "Miroku will give the girl a crash-course in media training and it should go fine."

"She'll probably faint at the sight of me." That wasn't actually an arrogant prediction. More of a lesson they had all learned from experience – fans fainted. It was a fact like the fact that toast always landed butter side down.

"True, true," Kikyo nodded in thought. "But if we prepare her enough she should handle it ok."

"Whatever, just make-sure it goes smoothly." Inuyasha told her as he reached the dressing room door. He braced his hand on the handle before glancing back at Kikyo. "If it doesn't go well we may have to kill everyone who witnesses it."

"Do you mean everyone at the conference or the entire population of the country who will be watching through the magic of Television."

"Hmm." Was all Inuyasha said to that as he jerked the handle and entered the room. "Hair – dry – now!"

The door fell shut behind him and his voice faded from hearing. Kikyo shook her head briefly with a sigh before remembering she had places to be and strode off to go deal with them.

One namely being the arrival of the mystery prize girl.

~*~

"I didn't think he'd keep this many people in his house." Kagome called after the clipboard girl.

"This is more of a workplace than a house." The girl answered.

Kagome swept her gaze around the main entrance hall, trying to take in as much information as possible as she was led swiftly through the foyer. Her school shoes clicked softly on the marble floors as she moved along and Kagome realised how much of that place was made of marble – white marble with a bit of pinkish, brown swirl in it. The place was more like a five star hotel than someone's home – or someone's workplace for that matter. It was a designer's invention gone to the limit – everything stylish, everything perfect, everything metal, marble or glass.

"How is this a workplace?" Kagome pressed as they passed the large marble stairway.

"Inuyasha's entourage have to be at hand at all times, so we all live here. Though non-valuable members of staff go home around seven."

They stopped beside an elevator as the girl punched the call button. Kagome would have liked one of those in her house… "Does he really need this many people?" she asked, looking back around the foyer as they waited.

"He has about fifty people working for him here, and that doesn't include the cooks and cleaners and so on." The girl seemed to consider. "I suppose he really doesn't even need ten at most, but we get paid a lot for this so it's worth it. Plus I think a place this size would be lonely with only immediate family living here."

The elevator doors opened with a soft 'ping' and Sango led Kagome inside.

At once Kagome winced. The elevator was lined with mirrors and had poor lighting… she only just realised how bad she looked. She didn't wear make-up to school, but now here she was about to meet the most famous guy in the world and she didn't even have any mascara!

"Hey," the girl nudged her slightly with her clipboard as they lift started moving up. "Bet you're dead excited to meet Inuyasha then."

"Oh." Kagome darted a glance at her. "Sure."

The girl laughed. "Well don't sound too miserable about it." Kagome watched her lean against one of the mirrors, crossing her hands over the clipboard against her stomach. "You're in for one hell of a week though. We'll kit you out and give you some media training in a bit, since you've got an interview with a press conference tonight."

"A what?!" Kagome squeaked. She had _not _signed up to give nationally broadcast interviews!

"It's ok, Miroku will train you." The girl seemed oblivious to her horror. "He's our media expert and press correspondent, he knows his stuff."

This didn't do much to comfort Kagome as she fidgeted nervously. She half wanted to bolt and run back home to hide under her bed with all her security blankets. But knowing that she'd probably look like an idiot if she tried that, she schooled herself to remain calm. Curiosity still ruled her, and she had to admit that she didn't want to pass up the opportunity to live in fame and fortune for a week.

__

I'll get used to it after a day or so… she consoled herself silently. It was just a shock, that was all…

It wasn't like she was whisked off by limo to go see _the _Inuyasha every day.

The elevator doors opened and Clipboard Girl took off at a quick paced stride down the corridor that opened to them. Red carpet, red walls, brown doors on either side. Kagome eyed the two digit numbers in each doorway and got that strange feeling again that she had perhaps wandered into a hotel, not a house.

"And you will be staying in _this _one." The girl stopped outside door number 15 and handed her a card key. "Just swipe it."

Kagome flicked it nervously between her fingers a moment before stepping forward to streak it through the lock. "I'd like one of these on my bedroom door at home," Kagome told the girl. "It would stop my brother from nicking my nail varnish all the time."

"I won't ask."

Kagome pushed the door open and immediately stepped back like a startled rabbit. "Holy…! What the heck is that?!"

"You're bedroom!" The clipboard Girl moved into the room and beckoned Kagome to follow again. "Come in, it doesn't bite."

Kagome stepped a foot into the room, too alarmed to do much else. "My god…"

"That's your bathroom – complete with shower, hot tub, I'm sorry we couldn't fit the sauna in – you'll have to go downstairs for that."

"S'okay." Kagome breathed.

"And that's you're walk-in wardrobe – we'll take your measurements and get you some clothes fit for a Starlet. But with such short notice we might only be able to give you a choice of five by tonight."

"Still ok…"

"And here's your four poster bed – if its too firm just say so and we'll add a sixth comforter mattress."

"Ok…"

"We couldn't give you a study, but I doubt that would matter, you're only staying for a week."

"Right…"

"And here's your view!" The Clipboard Girl marched over to the cream curtains that draped across the entire face of one of the walls. She pulled a chord and they parted dramatically. The sunlight hit Kagome full in the face and she flinched back instinctively.

"Don't be such a vampire – come over here." The girl smiled and pushed open the glass doors of the enormous bay window. "Here's you're balcony. Great spot for sunbathing and watching the crowds on the beach."

Kagome timidly crossed the room, half afraid to touch anything since it was so neat and immaculate. It was the first time in her life that she felt like a dirty little peasant girl. She followed the girl onto the balcony and walked over to the stone wall that kept her from tumbling over the edge. Below she could see the extensive blue pool that shimmered like a true tropical villa pool… and lifting her gaze she saw the ocean all the way to the horizon.

"It's amazing in the morning when the sun rises." The girl informed her. "Really beautiful…"

"I can imagine." Kagome whispered.

"So," the girl turned back to Kagome. "I'm Sango by the way, if you need anything, just shout for me. I'm usually PA for Kikyo, but she's assigned me to take care of you for this week, so don't be shy if you want anything."

And still, Kagome was already certain that she would ask of little as Sango as possible during her stay. She wasn't exactly a slave-driver by nature…

"Well you get comfortable here and I'll go sort things out. Miroku will be up in while to teach you some media skills…" Sango opened her mouth, before quickly shutting it again and smiling awkwardly. "Actually… I better accompany him."

"Am I that much trouble?" Kagome smiled.

"It's not you I'm worried about," Sango said so seriously that Kagome's smiled slipped a little. "But anyway, you're officially to meet Inuyasha in the conference, so we have to make sure you're prepared to act correctly."

"I'm not going to see him until tonight?" And the awkward moment was going to be viewed by millions…

"You can wait a few hours can't you?" Sango smiled at her. "See you in a while then. Oh – before I go – what's your measurements?"

Kagome rattled them off to her as Sango hastily scribbled them down on her clipboard. She felt a twinge of self-consciousness when she was forced to give away her more intimate details like bust size, but the girl didn't make anything of it.

"That's fine," Sango acknowledge as she tucked her pencil behind her ear. She shot a smile at Kagome as she turned. "See you in a while, Kagome."

Kagome watched her go back into the room and shut the door after her on the way out. Kagome heaved a big sigh and inhaled a lungful of salty sea air. She turned her eyes towards the sea and the beach again. A lot of interesting people were lying around the sandy shores down there, so without much else to do Kagome pulled herself up onto the stone wall and absorbed what had happened over the last couple of hours at her own pace.

~*~

"She sounds rather dull if you ask me." Inuyasha commented as Sango, who had just arrived and informed them of the need-to-know of the girl upstairs, took over the work of his hair stylist and ran a comb through his hair as she dried it.

"Oh no. She seems lots of fun to me." Miroku cocked his head. "Not exactly your typical screaming fan… but she seems a bit more refined than that."

"All beauty and no brains,"

"That's a fine thing to say," Sango scolded the Star as she jerked his chin up to get better access. "Anyway, isn't that how you like them?"

"Ha ha, see my sides split." Inuyasha gestured towards his ribs flatly.

"Hold still!" Sango sighed impatiently. "How am I supposed to find your parting when you keep squirming."

"Well maybe if you stopped tugging my hair so hard I would stop writhing in pain!" He shot back.

Sango opened her mouth to make a sharp retort, but caught Miroku making throat cutting motions behind Inuyasha's back. She clamped her mouth shut and got on with the task of glamorising the Superstar. She didn't want to challenge him too much otherwise she might find herself short of a job.

Miroku looked down at the notes on his clipboard. "I called round her house and got some more information on her. Her interests include animals, music, singing and pretty much everything else teenage girls are into. She also speaks reasonable amounts of English, French and Spanish. So there you have some topics to relate to her with."

"I don't like animals." Inuyasha responded bluntly.

"Then work around it."

"I don't speak French or other gibberish."

"You can barely speak Japanese." Miroku said, but was ignored (luckily for him).

"I hate singers and music stuff."

"Only because you're tone-deaf." Sango reminded him pleasantly. Inuyasha chose to not hear that either.

"No way can I relate to a bubble head." Inuyasha persisted.

"But you _are _bubble head." Miroku responded.

Sango tightened her hand around a lock of his hair, making him wince. "You be nice to her or I'll bleach this rats' nest and ruin your hair for a year!"

"You do that and you'll be working in McDonald's before you can say 'Happy Meal'!"

"Well maybe I _want _to quit!"

Miroku was making those gagging motions again. Sango quickly stepped down with an apologetic, if not very false smile. "Sorry, sir. What I mean to say is that I think you'll be pleasantly surprised when you meet her. She seems very sensible to me. It's nice to see a mature girl like that for once."

"Yeah, whatever," Inuyasha arrogantly accepted her apology with an upturn of his nose. "The sooner this little gimmick is over the better."

Sango clicked her tongue. "So…" she changed subject. "How do you want it?"

"Want what?"

"Your hair today?" she tugged it down to flatten it out in an imitation of perfect straightness. "Straight and chic? Like the style your brother is currently flouting on the catwalks."

"I _don't_ think so." Inuyasha wrinkled his nose. "Carefully dishevelled again, thank you."

"Still going for that lad-ish image?"

"It sells doesn't it?"

"Point."

Miroku was the one who caught sight of the time. "Oh look at that, I better get going if I'm supposed to train the girl enough by nine-"

"I'm going with you." Sango quickly dropped Inuyasha's hair and wiped her hands dry on a towel.

"Why?" Miroku frowned at her before realisation hit him. "Shouldn't even bother asking…"

"What about my hair?!" Inuyasha said indignantly.

"What about it, sir?" Sango asked. "Oh – new guy – deal with this will you?"

"New guy – no way!" Inuyasha spun angrily. "No amateur is touching this fortune-"

The pair had already walked out the room. Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "No respect these days…"

~*~

A knock on Kagome's door brought her out of her reverie. "Come in!" she called as she stepped off the balcony and back into the bedroom. Sango from earlier entered, following after a young man that Kagome had never seen before. He smiled at her. "Good afternoon, Miss Kagome. How are you doing?"

"Ok, I guess." She shrugged, still feeling as overwhelmed as before.

"No – you are not doing ok," the new guy corrected her jovially. "You are fantastic, you are pleased with the opportunity that has opened up before you and you are grateful and humbled to live in the presence of Inuyasha for seven days."

Kagome stared at him.

Sango jerked a thumb at the new guy. "Miroku. He's going to train you to face the media."

"Oh…" Kagome still managed.

"Have a seat, Miss Kagome." Miroku pointed to her bed and she sat down on it for the first time, absently noting how amazingly soft it was. "Now, getting straight to basics, the golden rule you should know about facing an interview is that they want long answers, they want as much information from you as possible within as little time as possible."

"Ok…"

"So when they ask a question, you have to give a long answer – even though the question may only seem to require a yes or no response."

"Oh…"

"Yet you seem to be a girl of few words."

"I do?"

Miroku smiled painfully before looking at Sango. "I'm sensing problems ahead." The Girl with clipboard just shrugged and smiled encouragingly at Kagome. "It's not hard to learn." She told the younger girl. "You just have to smile and be pleasant, try and be humorous when it's appropriate and talk a lot."

"Let's start with… What is your name, Kagome?" Miroku asked.

That had to be the dumbest question in the world. She looked at him incredulously, wondering if he was joking, until she realised he was very serious. "Um… it's Kagome Higurashi."

"Never say 'um'. It's a filler, it makes you sound stupid and slow on the uptake. Both of which I'm fairly certain you're not."

"Gee thanks…"

"Now let's try again. What is your name?"

"Kagome Higurashi."

Miroku winced. "Do you have any more to add to that?"

"Well… I don't have any more names." She shrugged.

"How about telling me the history of your name, who your inherited it from."

"Heck… I don't know…" Where was her Grandpa when she needed him most? He'd be able to give a lecture about the origins of 'Kagome' and make it last for half an hour.

"We have a lot to get through…" Miroku sighed patiently.

It was a long, _long _session for Kagome…

~*~

Kagome had been hoping to catch a glimpse of Inuyasha ever since she'd arrived… after all this _was _supposed to be his home. Yet it seemed like everyone _but _Inuyasha lived there.

After her short course in media training she'd been whisked off to be fitted into some new clothes. They weren't anything spectacular, a pair of hipsters and latest fashion in accessories and sixties style top. She had looked down at herself apprehensively. It wasn't the kind of thing she would normally wear… she looked like a fashion icon (or victim), not normal schoolgirl Kagome Higurashi.

"You look fine." Sango reassured her as they took the stretch limo away from the villa to the place where the interview was to take place… some studio further into town. "Very fashionable. Very cute."

"I don't feel like me though…" Kagome said dubiously. She caught sight of her reflection in the darkened windows. "I don't particularly look like me either."

"Well we had to put a lot of make-up on." Sango told her. "Those awful lights they shine on you make normal people look bleached and white. We have to give you some colour."

"And," Miroku said from her other side, "No matter how hard you blush, none of it will show through that foundation."

"I won't blush."

"Even when you see Inuyasha?" Miroku winked at her.

That made Kagome blush. And she realised how dearly she'd probably need that foundation tonight. 

It was beginning to sink in at last. After being given the star treatment, being put in an amazing room with a beautiful view and a bathroom with a hot tub, after seeing all the screaming fans as they pulled up outside the studio… it began to really hit her that she was going to be having a fifteen minute fame… and she was really going to be meeting _the _most popular person since… since he'd been born.

The butterflies were now beginning to take hold of her stomach in a savage fashion.

Miroku's media training helped a little, but she still felt small and insignificant as she stepped out of that limo and onto the red carpet. Flashes of photographers went off all around and people immediately began shouting her name, trying to get her attention. It was disorientating how many people knew her by name now when only that morning she'd still been a nobody.

"Just wave and go inside." Sango said from her side. "Don't answer their questions, not yet."

Kagome did her best to smile and wave as she was led inside the building and out of the intense heat of everyone's focus. The air inside the building seemed much cooler for some reason… "That was weird." She confided in Miroku and Sango who were accompanying her and leading her in the right direction. Behind them followed a few members of the Inuyasha entourage… Kagome didn't know what they actually did, but had decided that they were just there for the sake of being there. They looked as though they were doing something important and useful, but in reality…?

They went up a flight of stairs, pep-talking her the entire way, telling her to enjoy herself and just try and act natural. How Kagome even thought acting naturally in front of a nation wide audience was possible was a little beyond her. They stopped outside a polished oak door labelled 'Press Room 4'.

"This is it." Miroku said.

Those butterflies were raging now, throughout her entire body instead of just settling in her stomach. The murmur of voices inside told her that she wasn't ready for this… to be thrown straight out of a normal life into this bizarre scenario was too much. It happened to other people, not to her. Other people won these kinds of things – and they were usually the kind of people who could handle it.

Kagome couldn't.

The door to the room opened and a young woman stepped out. But the door was open long enough for Kagome to see just how many people were gathered in there.

There had to be at least sixty… not to mention the camera's standing around the back. The door swung close quietly behind the woman, and Kagome looked at her face for the first time.

And froze.

"Oh…" the young woman blinked at her as though she'd come across an unexpected surprise. "You must be Kagome Higurashi. I'm Inuyasha's agent, you may call me Kikyo."

Miroku was shaking with suppressed laughter beside them. Kagome saw Kikyo spare him a disparaging look before gathering herself. "Are you ready?"

Kagome wasn't but she nodded anyway.

"Good, I'll go let them know." And with that, Inuyasha's agent disappeared back into the press room.

Kagome was beginning to hyperventilate. She started to edge away from the door, beginning to tremble with unimaginable nerves while her stomach did flip-flops and her palms begun to moisten. "I-I can't do this…" 

Sango looked at her in concern. "Are you ok?"

If Kagome hadn't been wearing so much make-up she was sure that she would have been correction-fluid white, that or lobster red. Sango's hand touched her shoulder compassionately. "Hey, you don't have to do this if you really don't want to."

Miroku looked at her seriously. "We could call the whole thing off and you can go home again."

That sounded surprisingly tempting. Who wanted to meet a bastard like Inuyasha anyway? She just wanted to go home and go back to being normal. Sure everyone would single her out for a while because she'd come this close to such fame… but it would die down and everything would be normal.

That's when the applause broke out in the press-room.

Sango gasped. "That's our cue! Get in there!"

Kagome was all but thrust through the into the press room without so much as a warning. The bottom of her stomach dropped out and a sea of heads turned her way, all smiling, all applauding.

A man in a black suit took her shoulder gently and steered her towards the table arranged at the head of the room where the interview would take place.

He was sitting there… yet she couldn't find the courage to bring her eyes on him just yet.

A million thoughts seemed to fly through her head. What was he like really? She made a lot of fine assumptions about him over the past few years without _actually_ knowing him at all. Everyone spoke so highly of him, demanded that she like him too that she couldn't help but resent him. She wasn't one to be pushed around with the majority of teenage girls.

But was that really a good basis to dislike him?

Time seemed slow and every second a small eternity. Everyone was watching her…

She felt homesick. She wanted her mother to hold her hand. She missed seeing familiar faces around her. But what about _him_?

He probably wasn't as bad as she thought at all. Perhaps he was as good as everyone made him out to be. He was probably a really normal guy. Such a normal guy that she'd be astounded by how ordinary he was. He probably did and said the same things as other boys his age. He probably wasn't that different.

It only took a small movement of her head to look upon him for the first time in the flesh. That was all it took. The applauding crowd seemed to blur into a long continuous background noise. He was the one familiar face among these last few hours of nothing but strangers. He'd been a face she'd seen for the good part of her life. He'd been famous before she was born, she'd grown up hearing his name.

A moment ago she'd thought he would be ordinary, but already he was anything but.

His presence was magnetism. He was the pinnacle of attention in the room. They may have all been cheering and watching her, but he was the one they had come for. He was the one everyone couldn't bear to tear their eyes away from, even right then.

Now she understood. He was just the most impressive person she'd ever seen. Just his presence enough was awe-inspiring.

And he was smiling at her.

Kagome did the most embarrassing thing she'd ever done in her life.

She fainted.

AN: Wow… that was a loooooong chapter. See ya soon ^_^


	3. The Ride Back

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Author's Notes: Well it's official, Inuyasha loses his prayer beads in the third movie, after countless renditions of such an event happening in countless fanfics. The actual moment when he loses them is accompanied by a big explosion (poor Shippo gets blown away) and an over-dramatic scream from Kagome (way to show confidence that you trust him enough not to slice you up when he's free, Kag)… and here everyone thought they would just drop off harmlessly onto the ground ^_^

If you wanna see for yourself, go to this site:

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http :// inuyasha-info.virtue.nu/ download.html (no spaces)

Download the second trailer of the third movie labelled '2(DivX 5.02)' and then you can watch the trailer yourself (Looks like a good movie too ^_^)

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Dead Famous

Chapter 3

The Ride Back…

__

Oh bless… she'd fainted. Inuyasha hid the small twisting of a smirk by passing a hand over his mouth, feigning to be shocked and surprised as everyone else in that room. Several people had already jumped out of their seats to go assist the poor overwhelmed girl.

He knew it was cruel… but he couldn't resist the temptation to traumatise the schoolgirl even more. Leaving his seat at the front of the room, he hopped down off the raised platform and made his way to the group of people gathering around the fallen teenager.

"Give her some air," quite a few people were saying, yet no one was backing away from her.

Perhaps he was needed after all, if only to make people back off if nothing else. "'Scuse me." He offered politely as he reached the cluster of reporters. No sooner were the words out of his mouth than they were stumbling over themselves to get out of his way, clearing a nice path for him to reach the girl.

Without further ado he crouched down beside her and gently took her hands in his, acting every part the dashing rescuer of the day. It nearly caught him off guard when he looked her in the face…

She could easily have been Kikyo's twin. Or at least a younger sister or cousin…

Now he understood why Miroku had chosen _this _one in particular. To get a good giggle most likely.

Another thing he noticed, slightly to his disappointment, that she wasn't actually unconscious. She'd just swooned and fallen, because the moment the people backed off, giving her some much needed fresh air she stirred and opened her eyes.

The similarities to Kikyo ended there. Her eyes were unique and when they eventually focused on his he turned every ounce of fake charm that he possessed to full power and gave her the best boyish grin he could manage – the one that often or not had fangirls fainting left right and centre. It would be the death shot for this girl.

But instead of squeaking and passing out again, she simply gave him an odd look and brought her hand to her head, closing her eyes with a flicker of exhaustion and basically ignoring him like every other concerned stranger around her… much to his disappointment.

"Maybe I should have eaten something before I came out…" She said weakly and began sitting up.

Hands rushed in at all sides to both help her up or keep her on the floor. Her eyes shot open as she seemed to remember the situation and gave everyone around her rather startled glances. "Oh no…"

"Are you ok now?" Inuyasha ventured, even more unsettled by the fact that she wasn't giving him a second glance now.

"Fine, fine," she said quickly, looking at him at last and giving him an embarrassed smile that she might as well have given anyone and not just the most famous person in the world. "Low blood sugar. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast."

"Well you can have some of my orange juice, if you want." Why wasn't she fainting again? Or at least getting flustered?

"Oh that's really kind of you, thank you!" she sounded surprised.

At a bit of a loss still, he helped her get to her feet and waved everyone off. They went back to their seats and Inuyasha led the schoolgirl back to the front of the press room and sat her down… without even needing prompting she reached over and pulled his glass of juice towards her. "Thank you." She said a little more meekly as she took a sip.

Strange… very strange…

Inuyasha glanced over at Kikyo who sat on his other side. The agent rested her elbows on the table, her fingers latched together, as she leant forward to raise her eyebrows at Kagome. "Are you ready?"

The girl named Kagome gave Kikyo a curious look, obviously wondering about their evident similarities, before nodding jerkily. She was obviously nervous about being up in front of so many people, something Inuyasha didn't quite understand. He'd never been nervous about this kind of thing, it was practically second nature to him. He wondered what it was like for someone as normal and unimportant as this girl to be suddenly tossed into the spotlight.

Kikyo gave a nod to the audience. "We'll take your questions."

A volley of hands shot up into the air and everyone started talking at once. Inuyasha began discreetly scratching his name into the table in front of him. His part in the interview was practically over, not since it was Kikyo's duty to select who should ask the first question.

"You with the blue shirt," Kikyo pointed to a man in the front row. Everyone else fell silent as he stood.

"Eiichi Matsumoto, Prime Time News," the guy introduced himself before addressing Kagome directly. "Miss Higurashi, are you ok now?"

The girl gave a nervous laugh but answered without much of a stammer. Sort of impressive… he would have been more impressed if she hadn't already fainted.

Kikyo inclined herself slightly towards him, hiding her mouth behind a hand so she could speak in a soft voice that no one would hear but him. "She's out of energy. She's running on fumes as it is. Remind me to fire Sango."

She always said that, but she never went through with it. He glanced sideways at the schoolgirl who was now happily chattering on about her experience that afternoon when she'd been announced the winner.

"I was shocked, I couldn't believe that out of all the people in the country it had been me… I mean, I think I won a teddy in a raffle when I was six, but this is completely different!"

She was losing her anxious nerves the more she talked. It was like she was forgetting that the whole world was watching her, as she focused her attentions on the people who had asked the questions, like she was having a one on one interview. Inuyasha recognised that as one of Miroku's tips – to ignore the world and only see the people who had made a query… and picture them in their underwear. Though Miroku liked to recommend that especially when being interviewed by a woman.

Kikyo selected someone new to ask a question, a familiar looking attractive woman who didn't like to smile. "Nariko Watanabe, Sunday Telegram." Inuyasha groaned inwardly but the girl called Kagome just smiled attentively. "Miss Higurashi, how do you feel about spending a week in the company of Japan's most sought after male?"

Inuyasha watched with interest as a rather fixed smile came upon the girl's face. Now either here was a girl who was secretly very, _very _nervous, or absolutely detested the idea.

He liked to lean towards the idea that she was completely besotted with such a gorgeous specimen like himself and that she was worried about being unable to keep her hands off of him.

"I'm really honoured," the girl told the reporter, seeming to opt for the pleasant, yet noncommittal answer. Another trick Miroku had undoubtedly taught her during their short time together. "This is a once in a life-time opportunity… and I'm just happy that I'm going to have a really fun week!"

__

That's what she thinks…Inuyasha pretended to inspect his claws vainly. If Kikyo and everyone else expected him to drop everything and devote a whole week of his life to a bubble-head, then they could go stuff themselves. No way was Inuyasha going to put up with this…

The girl beside him glanced over and he graced her with a pleasant, yet very meaningless smile. Poor thing would probably trail after him dotingly for the next seven days… but only if he was unable to shake her off first.

The interview went surprisingly smoothly after that first little hiccup. After a while it almost seemed as if the girl _enjoyed _the attention. A few questions were directed at Inuyasha, but since he'd already been interviewed in depth before the girl's arrival, most of his questions were in joint with the schoolgirl's.

Kikyo effectively put an end to the interview in her usual no-nonsense manner. She stood up, made a closing statement and then all but shooed him and Kagome out of their seats to lead the way out of the press room. Reporters still called after them, raising their hands to ask another question, but the ordeal was finally over.

The moment they stepped out into the corridor, the girl slumped against the wall, fanning her face like she was overheated. "God… I've never been so embarrassed in my life."

"You seemed ok to me," Inuyasha responded cheerfully enough. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Kikyo's chin lift slightly as she observed them both. Obviously his agent approved of his behaviour so far. Kikyo knew him only too well to expect a bad attitude on his part.

Miroku and Sango arrived beside them. Miroku's expression was somewhere between pride and an 'oh well, nevermind' look. Sango just looked concerned. "Are you ok?" she asked the girl when she reached her. "We saw you faint – you just crumpled like a flower."

Nice analogy. Inuyasha looked at the girl expectantly for her response.

"I'm sorry," She gave them both a reassuring smile. "I don't know what happened… I just felt really cold all of a sudden like something had just sapped all my energy and I just went down, I couldn't help it."

Kikyo's heels clicked as she moved past the group. "Perhaps someone should feed her once in a while." She said softly over her shoulder as she moved away down the corridor.

All three watched her a moment before Miroku gave Kagome a small nudge. "We thought you'd fainted at the sight of his almighty."

All the make-up in the world couldn't have hid the blush that spread across her cheeks. Inuyasha had to turn around and start walking to avoid them seeing the smirk that had spread across his own face. "Come on, kids." He called over his shoulder. "Don't want to miss our ride, do we?"

"As if it would ever leave without him." Miroku said under his breath to the girls as they obediently followed after him. 

Outside the crowds were still there, as large as life and twice as loud. Fan girls had been building up along the barricades while they'd been inside, and instead of heading straight into the awaiting limo like the average diva, Inuyasha took a few minutes to sign a few autographs, kiss a few cheeks and shake many a hand.

"You guys want to see a trick?" he asked a group of girls as he finished up another autograph. He handed it back but kept the permanent marker. "Look what happens when I do this."

With the pen, he lifted his wrist and scrawled his name over the silver plated surface of his watch.

He only had to toss both wristwatch and marker into the crowd and stepped back to watch the mad dive everyone made for both items. A few moments later a rather triumphant (and lucky) girl leapt up cradling the wristwatch. "It's mine! It's mine! I got Inuyasha's wristwatch!"

"I got his pen!" cried another girl, equally as delighted.

Inuyasha smiled and turned back to see the new girl's progress. To his surprise she'd already been asked for a few autographs. Sango and Miroku had disappeared somewhere. Inuyasha, ever the predator, came up quietly behind the Kikyo-look-alike and gripped her elbow, surprising her, and drawing her away from the barricades. The girl barely had time to hand back the half completed signature.

"Where are the other two?" he asked her in a deliberately low, smooth voice.

"Erm…" she visibly swallowed as she looked everywhere except at him. "They said that I should ride back in your limo. They'd go back together in the one I came in… if that's alright with you?"

"Sure. Fair enough." He smiled amiably and beckoned her to follow him towards the waiting limo parked against the curb. He opened the door and gestured for her to get in, all the while giving her the award-winning smile. It sure was making her a little embarrassed and self-conscious and she quickly ducked inside and out of sight at last.

Inuyasha cast one final wave to the gathered crowd who began screaming even louder now that it was evident he was leaving, before slipping inside the limo and shutting the door after him.

The moment the door shut, the sound of the roaring crowd was muted and the girl who now perched meekly on the leather seats opposite him burst out. "I just want to tell you how grateful I am about all this – I mean – for you to even bother with someone like me and-"

He held up his hand abruptly to cut off her flow of her words, and with a smile he reached a hand over his shoulder to press a button beside his head. The tinted window that divided the drivers little cab to the back of the limo began winding up just as the vehicle began to move off the curb.

The moment that little gap between the roof and the glass divider closed… everything changed.

His smile dropped as easily as dropping a log and his whole pleasant demeanour vanished as fast as he could put it on. "Ok now listen," he started, rotating his shoulders as if to work out some kinks. "I don't care what you think you've heard from those goons I call employees, but aside from this limo ride and the awards evening, I don't want you under my feet."

The girl stared at him, a dawning expression beginning to grow. At least she wasn't completely slow and clueless.

"Got that?" he reasserted, giving her a questioning look. "This whole scheme to have a fan come up here for a week was Kikyo's idea, not mine. Don't have any delusions that this is your lucky break or your 'once in a lifetime opportunity', because it isn't. You're a tool in my own publicity, nothing more. Keep smiling for a week and we'll all be happy, yeah? And if you come out of this with a few sweet things to say about it I'll even give you a little… parting gift, as it were."

He'd probably shattered all her fanatic delusions, but there you go. He wasn't going to mess around sparing _everyone's _feelings at his own expense. If she was in his way, he wasn't about to hesitate to set her aside.

He watched her expression intently, waiting for her to do either one of two things. One: get angry and start shouting and screaming abuse (it was always the quiet ones) or two: burst out into tears and do nothing but unintelligible wailing for the next seven days.

To his surprise he watched as her own demeanour dropped. For where had sat a meek and anxious fangirl, now sat a much calmer person. She sat back slowly until she was rested up against the backrest and regarded him with a 'now look what you've done' kind of expression.

After a moment she scoffed and looked away, bringing a hand to her forehead. "I don't believe it… I was right all along."

"What?" he narrowed his eyes slightly.

She turned back to him sharply. "You know, famous people like you get to a point where you're so famous that you forget what it's like to be human – and before you say it I know! You're technically only half human but that's still human enough! You start seeing your fans as little ants that just beg and simper to your every whim."

Well weren't they? "You're point?" he shrugged, slightly intrigued that she was neither particularly angry at his 'betrayal' or upset.

"My point being that you're a bully and an egomaniac." She said simply. "I figured you were as much." She turned her head to look out the window. She feigned a slightly disappointed sigh. "Now this is going to make the journey really awkward…"

"You thought I was a bully, yet you still entered the competition?" he smirked at her. "And all this coming from a girl who fainted the moment you laid eyes on me."

"Get over yourself." She said so abruptly that he almost felt the need to obey. "For your information my _friends_ entered me in this ridiculous charade. I thought it was a stupid idea the moment I read it on a billboard. And I only _fainted _because us _humans_ tend to get dizzy and swoon when we don't eat or drink for twelve hours straight and then are pushed into a room full of everyone in the country."

"Don't be so full of yourself." He shot back. "Not _everyone_ in the country were that bothered to watch you gloat about a win you apparently didn't even want." He was going to have to have a little word with Miroku about his choice of selected candidates.

"You know, I don't have to sit there and watch you try to manipulate me for the next seven days." She snapped, her irritation in him already growing strong enough to overcome her previous nervousness around him.

She seemed to be forgetting just who he was…

"I won't be manipulating you," he said smoothly, "I won't even have to look at you until the awards evening… and then perhaps the hour you leave next Saturday. I'll be keeping you under the carpet till then."

Her temper was beginning to flare, he sensed as much. She seemed to be counting to ten, but only got to four before she was up and dashing for the glass divider. She rapped on it urgently with her knuckles. "Stop this limo! I want out, _right now_!" she yelled.

"Sit down!" he tried to press a hand against her shoulder to push her back into her seat, but she shrugged him off roughly and hammered on the glass again. "Stop and let me out or I **swear **that I will sue every single one of you bastards!"

"That's enough!" he wrapped an arm around her waist and literally threw her back down onto her seat. She gasped in surprise, but the moment she sat up she was glaring white-hot daggers at him. "They can't hear you anyway."

"You're more of a bastard than I originally presumed." She hissed.

"And you're more fiery than I gave you credit for." He returned. She'd taken him by surprise. Really. And that wasn't necessarily a good thing…

"I was willing you give you benefit of the doubt – give you a chance to redeem yourself but the minute we're alone and you haven't got the world watching you, you turn into a complete pig! Wait till I tell-"

In a flash he was beside her and had clapped a hand over her mouth. "Now don't be so hasty, Kyoko."

She tore his hand from her mouth. "That's Kagome!"

"Whatever. Anyway, don't be so hasty to go slinging nasty words around." He was actually getting worried… but perhaps he could still turn this around. He had his ways. "You don't really think I'm a bastard do you?"

"You've shown me enough to be _really _certain." She glared at him.

"But I must admit that you really intrigue me. You know, being as famous as I am, people always watch what they say around me. They never want to offend me or say anything that is really on their mind. Even if they hate me they suck up to me-"

"I bet a lot of people do that." She said dryly.

Inuyasha would not be deterred. "For someone to actually open up and say they dislike me is unusual."

"Sucks, doesn't it?" she turned away from him.

"Well I think you're a bitch." He said derisively.

She snapped back to him. "Well that's the most hypocritical thing I've ever heard!"

"And two-faced." He shot back. "Coming in here pretending to be a doting fan and then turning around and biting my head off!"

"Because you turned around and bit me first!"

"I bit no one!"

"You're a bully and I find you disgusting!" she spat.

"You're a flippant cow and I find you absolutely fascinating!" Without warning he caught her chin and dragged her forward so suddenly that in a split second their lips were only a scant inch apart. "Are you as turned on as I am right now?"

She made a small squeak before flinging herself backwards. "URGH! NO!"

Ouch… she didn't have to tread so hard on that one. "Fair enough." He shrugged and reached over to the cooler to get a can of coke, at the same time wondering why his usual tactic of warming a frosty girl up hadn't worked…

"My god…" Kagome continued to edge away from him until she was the furthest distance possible in such an enclosed space. "You're even worse than I thought…"

Inuyasha happily cracked his can open and took a sip.

"You're even lower than a bully!" she spluttered in outrage. "You're a player!"

"Welcome to the life of the rich and famous."

*~*

"I'm telling you Mom, he's a completely pig-headed, pompous moron!" Kagome ranted into the phone that night. "He called me a bitch and had the nerve to tell me he was _keeping me under the rug_! I mean, come on! We all know rich people are divas but this is stretching it – he's a total creep!"

"So you got off to a bad start, I'm sure you two will make friends."

This coming from the woman who probably thought Hitler had a soft inner child. Kagome just shook her head. "No, Mom, I don't want to even consider being a friend to him. He views us lowly people as little insects that can be stepped on without thought. He's been up on that pedestal so long that we all look small and insignificant to him – he doesn't _care _enough about me or any other fan for that matter."

"Then change him."

Kagome blinked. "What?"

"Change him. You have a week to spend with him – from what it sounds like you're probably one of the only people who is willing to let him know what you think about him." Mrs Higurashi reasoned. "Open his eyes and get him to grow up."

"Easy for you to say." Kagome flopped back onto her too-soft bed and gazed up at the high ceiling. "I don't think I even want to bother…"

"You do what you think best, dear." Her mother told her warmly. "Just make sure you have fun and don't you dare let him spoil that."

Kagome smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"It's late now, Kagome. You better get some sleep. It sounds like you had a tiring day."

"Right."

"Have you had supper?"

"Sango practically jammed it down my throat the moment we arrived back." Kagome smiled slightly.

"Good to know someone's taking care of you." Her mother's smile could be heard even down the line. "Goodnight then, love."

"Night, Ma." Kagome made a kiss sound and hung up.

Her pyjamas were already laid out on her bed – silk of the finest quality and in just the right size. Kagome sat up and ran a hand over the delicate material with a happy sigh. She wondered if she'd be able to keep all the clothes they gave her…

~*~

"I don't like this." Inuyasha frowned as he rummaged around the kitchens at midnight. "It'll be too easy for to mouth off…"

"She seems ok to me." Miroku shrugged from where he was sat on the island counter in the middle of the kitchen, watching Inuyasha turf things out of the fridge. "We spent a whole delightful evening together."

"You make everything sound dirty."

"I'm being serious." Miroku yawned widely. "She was pleasant enough to me and Sango. A fast learner and despite fainting that one time… she handled herself well and came across as a lovely young woman, not a teenage bimbo as you're making her out to be."

"No sooner were we alone then she had a go at me – calling me a pig-headed diva!" Inuyasha straightened. "Why is there no damn food in this fridge?!"

"There's food stuffed in there to the brim, Inuyasha. And are you sure you didn't provoke her?"

"I did nothing of the sort!" he snapped. "I was the perfect gentleman, kind, helpful – you saw me! Trust me, Miroku, turn your back on a girl like that and expect to find a knife in it."

"I've told you a billion times not to exaggerate, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha made an irritated sound. "Where's the cook?"

"Sleeping. Like every other sane person in this place." Miroku rubbed his tired eyes. "And before you ask, I will not wake her up. You either make your own food or go to bed."

Inuyasha slammed the fridge door. "Then I will just go to bed, thank you very much." No way was he going to be reduced to the level of having to make his own supper.

"Suit yourself." Miroku shrugged slightly. Then he suddenly perked up. "Hey – I heard you were dating that French model."

"No, I was dating the weather girl from Channel seven." Inuyasha corrected him… though he wasn't entirely sure himself.

"No. I'm sure Angelique Spanner… or Spanish… Spaghetti… or something like that… well, she issued a statement earlier saying that you two were official."

"Oh dear… Eiko isn't going to like that."

"Who's Eiko?" Miroku asked.

"Um…" Inuyasha made a vague gesture. "The weather girl I think… or the new cleaner girl…"

"Jeez… don't let any of us mortal men have one or anything." Miroku hopped down from the kitchen counter. "Anyway, I'm going to call it a day. You better get to bed as well, you need to get up early tomorrow."

"Why?" Inuyasha scowled at him.

"Don't make me ruin the surprise. Just get up, alright?" Miroku smiled secretively as he headed for the kitchen door. On his way he picked up an apple from the fruit basket and tossed it hard over his shoulder at Inuyasha. The Hanyou caught it easily. "Have an apple. And if I find any one of those beers missing in the morning," he jerked a thumb at the fridge, "I'll make Kikyo extend Kagome's stay for another week. Ok?"

Inuyasha contemplated clocking him with the apple… but perhaps that wouldn't serve his purposes in the long run. Miroku was soon out of firing range anyway. "Why do I put up with them…?" he bounced the apple from hand to hand and headed off at a leisurely pace towards his own bedroom.

A tired looking Sango intercepted him halfway up the stairs. "There's a reporter here to see you, she wants an exclusive interview."

"If she doesn't smile and her name ends in Watanabe, send her away." Inuyasha took a bite out of his apple and shook his head as he continued on his way. "Too many people know where I live…"

Out of pure curiosity (or so he told himself) he went out of his way to pass by the guest room where the schoolgirl was supposed to be staying. He stopped outside her door and listened intently to any sounds within…

All he heard was her steady, even breathing. She was asleep.

With a faint roll of his eyes he went back on his way to his own room – one floor up and directly above the girl's guest room. In truth, that girl unnerved him more than he'd admit to Miroku or Kikyo or anyone else. She was strange – mostly because she must have been the one girl he'd met who didn't fancy him. She was also odd because she had the nerve to _pretend _to like him and then turn around and be so _rude_. No one had spoken to him like that before… and if they had they hadn't kept their job much longer afterwards. 

Once in his room he collapsed on the bed, face down, still wondering.

"What did I do to deserve all this…?"

AN: That's what we'd all like to know. And here's another question: Just what exactly is Inuyasha famous for? I'll answer that one next time ^_^


	4. Breakfast at Blossoms

****

Author's Notes: Another strange thing about this fic is probably Inuyasha being showcased as an anti-hero. It's not actually that unusual seeing as how in the manga Inuyasha _was _portrayed as an anti-hero at first and didn't really become a true hero until book two or three (he was quite a questionable hero during those first few books). But really, even I find him quite disgusting in this fic…

****

Disclaimer: Just to say I have nothing against French people. In fact for someone who lives in britain I am abnormally fond of France… I've been there several times and believe me they aren't all that glamorous (but the country is gorgeous), they're not all that rude but they're not all that polite either (not where I went anyway). I used to have a friend whose family was French who I used to go to school with, and coincidentally, she is a bit of a slut. She got hauled up in front of her head master recently for her skirt being too short so her father came in and complained saying that she wasn't a slut, she was just French… frankly she was very embarrassed.

So, sorry Manon, I may have modelled Angelique Spagni on you ^_^;; (she'll never know…)

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 4

Breakfast at Blossoms

"Time to get up sleepy head!" Sango lashed back the curtains to the large bay windows, making Kagome flinch back under the snug covers of her bed. Sango turned to look back at her. "Come on Kagome, we have a busy day planned ahead. Welcome to day one of your week in-"

"Hell?"

"-paradise." Sango looked at her curiously. "What's the matter?"

"Urgh… I need to be unconscious." Kagome groaned from under her blanket. "I didn't get a moment of shut-eye last night… someone in the room above me kept making these ominous banging sounds. Made me lie awake all night…"

Sango huffed angrily as she stomped back to the opening glass doors onto the balcony and leaning against the rail to look up. "Inuyasha! I know you're up there – get Angelique out of here!"

Kagome cracked open an eye as she heard a scraping sound from the balcony above. "Angelique isn't here!" came Inuyasha's disembodied reply.

"Then tell Eiko to get lost!"

"Eiko isn't here either!"

"Then tell Rochelle-"

"Rochelle isn't-"

"The weather girl – the cleaner – Natsu – Natari – Hatsuyo – I don't care, tell whoever it is up there to leave, I'm not having you-"

"Relax!" came his abrupt reply. "There's no one up here except for me. I'm just practising, that's all."

Sango seemed to breath more easily. "Alright then, just keep it down." She didn't wait for a response before stepping back into Kagome's room and shutting the glass doors behind her. "I'll get Kikyo to tell him off later, ok?"

"Mm." Kagome pushed the covers back enough to free her arms and rub her eyes. "What time is it?"

"Six in the morning."

"What?" Kagome gaped at her. "But it's a Sunday!"

"A busy Sunday." Sango agreed and moved over to the bed and picked up a bundle of clothes that had been neatly laid out next to Kagome's feet. "Look, I've got clothes enough to sort you for a few days, I'll get you some more later on. The tailor is still working on your dress for the awards evening but you should get that before Thursday night."

Kagome sat up and ran her hands over the clothes Sango had presented her with. All the best designer ranges. "Do I get to keep this after I go home?"

"I don't see why not." Sango shrugged pleasantly. "We're not going to find anyone to give them to apart from some charity. So you might as well take them with you."

"Cool…" Kagome picked up a long suede jacket with a designer label under the collar. "To tell you the truth this is a bigger wardrobe than the one I have at home. I think I have about three jumpers, a few skirts and jeans… and about seventy school uniforms."

Sango smiled, obviously pleased to help the 'less fortunate'. "Well we'll give you extra in that case. Anyway, you get dressed and I'll come back in twenty minutes and take you to breakfast and then perhaps you'd like a little tour around the villa?"

"Sounds good." Kagome smiled and Sango left with a little parting wave.

Kagome examined the clothes she'd been given and sighed slightly. The most expensive labels in the business were laid out on her bed… and yes they looked glamorous and cool, but honestly, she really wouldn't pick them out in the shop as her own taste.

Still, fame and fortune had its perks. _Though_, Kagome thought as she turned her eyes to the ceiling, _it also has its jerks._

True to her word, Sango was back within twenty minutes to find Kagome dressed and ready to go. "Are you going to leave your hair like that?" She asked slightly pointedly.

Kagome turned to look in the mirror lining one wall of her temporary bedroom. She had brushed it… what was the problem. "Why?"

"Nothing… just come here." Kagome approached her cautiously, wondering what she was going to do. The moment she was within range, Sango spun her around and snapped a hair toggle from her wrist onto her fingers and pushed Kagome's hair into a high ponytail. "There." She said when Kagome's hair was suitably off her shoulders. "Much more elegant. Now come on, I'll show you around before breakfast."

The villa was bigger than she'd even first imagined… it was something like Dr Who's police box – fourth dimensional. On the outside it looked big – but on the inside it seemed to stretch on further than the gardens.

"We have an indoor pool around here somewhere." Sango said as they wandered around the ground floor, "For those cold days. And there is a sauna next to that. Breakfast room, game room, cinema room and the classic room."

"What's a classic room?" Kagome asked.

"The room we show to photographers who want to come around and take pictures of the villa." Sango beckoned her to follow. "It's this way, come on."

Kagome was in awe, but she couldn't help but feel a little resentful as Sango led her through the corridors. "Seriously, what did Inuyasha ever do to afford _this _much."

"What hasn't he done?" Sango responded with a quirky smile as she reached to classic room – a room with large double doors. "This place is soundproof. You could probably kill someone in here and no one would hear the scream."

"Unless the door was open."

"Yeah, then you'd be in trouble." Sango pushed open the doors and led her inside. "But don't worry, I doubt Inuyasha has ever killed someone in here… or… at least I haven't heard anything yet."

Kagome gave her a wary look, wondering if perhaps she was half serious. She didn't get a chance to pursue the subject when she spotted the shiny black piano in the middle of the richly decorated room. "Oh wow… a grand piano…" she moved towards in instinctively. "Does Inuyasha play?"

"Nah…" Sango shook her head with a shrug. "It used to belong to his father. That man was quite a keen pianist… didn't really rub off on Inuyasha though."

"Do his parents live here?" Kagome asked nonchalantly as she ran a hand over the keys gently, lightly enough not to disturb them.

"His parents are dead."

Kagome stiffened slightly and looked back at Sango, seeing her serious expression. "Oh… I didn't realise."

Sango gave her an incredulous smile. "Don't you catch up with the news? They died about six years ago in that crash. It was all over the headlines for like a year."

"I didn't really pay attention to the news when I was nine…" Kagome admitted, but now she felt a little bad. She had really tried to avoid anything related to Inuyasha for most of her life, especially when she was younger. "Inuyasha must have been about… eleven, right?"

"Yeah." Sango nodded. "It must have been tough for him. I didn't start working for him until three years ago… most of what I know about him is what I hear from Miroku. Inuyasha doesn't really talk to me."

"Who looks after him then?"

"Well his aunt used to take care of him, but she walked out when he was sixteen. Said she couldn't handle him anymore." Sango shook her head as if remembering an amusing event. "Inuyasha's been keeping after himself ever since."

He'd done well for a seventeen year old, soon to be eighteen. "Is that why he's such a… such a…" Kagome struggled for a word.

"A jerk?"

"An arrogant a-typical superstar with more money than sense." Kagome nodded. "Is he like that because he's lonely?" Now she was beginning to sound like her mother… 

"Inuyasha is surrounded by people twenty-four hours a day. I don't think he gets the chance to feel lonely." Sango's smile changed slightly… until it looked positively sad. "But… I guess he did change a little after that 1992 ordeal."

Kagome blinked at her. "What ordeal?" she frowned. "There was an ordeal in 1992?"

"Apparently he was quite tolerable up until that year." Sango didn't seem to hear her as her eyes slid to the floor. "But after that his behaviour got worse… but people just _tolerated _it because they had to. It was cruel not to I suppose…"

"What? What are you talking about?" Kagome prodded.

"And as long as people let him get away with whatever he wanted, he just got stuck that way…" Sango shook her head. "Sad really…"

"What's sad? What happened in 1992?" Kagome waved her hand. "Hello? Am I talking to a brick wall?"

"Hm?" Sango seemed to remember she wasn't alone. "Sorry, spacing off again… anyway, do you want some breakfast now? I promised Kikyo that I would feed you at frequent intervals."

Even though Kagome hadn't quite got a straight answer, she _was _pretty hungry. "Ok. Which way is the kitchen?"

"Oh you're not going to eat breakfast here," Sango replied as she led Kagome out of the classic room and back into the corridor. "You're going to be having breakfast at Blossom café."

"Really?" Kagome began to feel the edges of nervousness beginning to creep up on her. "You mean… the blossom café where all the Tv stars and actresses and singers hang out?"

"Absolutely. Great food as well." Sango said cheerfully as she shut the doors to the put a hand to her ear piece. "Miroku, send a limo round to pick them up. Kagome's ready to leave for The Blossom." She lowered her hand and looked back at Kagome. "Even though you and Inuyasha got off to a bad start I'm sure we can fix things… he really isn't all that bad."

Tell that to Kagome's miffed pride.

~*~

"_This _was my surprise?" Inuyasha hissed at Kikyo who accompanied him down to the waiting limo outside the villa.

"It's a surprise isn't it?" Kikyo said evenly, but she was obviously getting a kick out of torturing him. "You're going to take Kagome to breakfast and you are going to be civil to her and you are going to make her feel at ease in your presence because if she is not satisfied then it will only work against you. She'll leave next Saturday and her complaints will be all over the paper by Sunday. Got it?"

"Give her some money and shut her up then." Inuyasha said sulkily. "We don't have to actually be _nice _to her."

"It's called common courtesy. She should get acquainted with it one day." Kikyo passed him his wallet as they reached the limo and opened the door for him. "Now go forth young man and do me proud."

"Bite me."

"Don't tempt me." She pointed into the limo. "Now get in."

With a surly sigh he slipped down into the cosy compartment and immediately came face to face with the schoolgirl. Her eyes narrowed instantly and she slid a little further down the seat away from him. Kikyo slammed the door after him, nearly catching one of his ears, forcing Inuyasha to take a seat now that his escape route had been locked.

"Morning." Kagome said politely, looking pointedly away from him.

"Good morning." He returned with sarcastic politeness.

"No, I said _morning_. I never said anything about it being good." She snapped and turned on him. "You know, this isn't my idea of a pleasant breakfast. I'd much rather stay here and have a chip barm with Sango."

"Well I'd much rather be eating McDonald's with a couple of pigs than be having a breakfast with two-faced fangirls."

"I am _not _your fangirl." She shot back through clenched teeth.

"Sure you aren't." he said in a patronising tone. She fumed quietly but ignored him after that. She would not let him spoil her fun… and the best way to do that was just pretend he wasn't with her. Damn… she really wished her friends hadn't entered her in the stupid contest…

"What's wrong with your hair?" Inuyasha suddenly asked.

Kagome darted a glare at him. "What?"

"What's wrong with your hair?" He repeated in exactly the same tone.

Kagome raised a hand self-consciously to her head. "Nothing… why?"

"Oh, nothing." He said quickly and looked away.

If that was a trick to try and get her paranoid about her hair… well, it was working. Kagome kept looking for some sort of mirror to figure out how her hair looked… at this rate she was probably going to turn as vain as Inuyasha himself. But he was the kind of vain that would urge him to shoot past speed cameras just to get his picture taken… Kagome had quite a way to go before she got that bad.

The Blossom café was further than Kagome had expected. It wasn't what she'd call 'popping out for a quick breakfast'. It was like driving out for some classy dinner at a fancy restaurant, only at seven in the morning rather than seven at night. Eventually they got there, just about when tension in the back of limo was near breaking point – a point where Kagome wanted to scream and strangle Inuyasha for being such a pompous pinhead.

The limo let them out and drove off, leaving Kagome to trail sullenly after Inuyasha as he went inside the café. It was basically starbucks but with a couple of zeros added to their prices. And because only the rich people and the celebrities came and ate here, there were hardly any fans leaping out of their seats for autographs, or reporters popping out of bushes with cameras.

"What do you want to eat?" Inuyasha asked when they got to the counter.

"I dunno… food?" she shrugged.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "You gotta be more specific than that." He condescended.

"Ok…" Kagome looked at the waitress behind the till who was looking at Inuyasha. "I'll gave a glass of water and a muffin."

"Tap water or mineral?" the waitress asked, still with her eyes on Inuyasha who was looking at something on the menu, but Kagome realised that he was just avoiding the waitress… only because she wasn't all that pretty. Kagome felt another wave of loathing for him… what a snotty asshole…

"Um… tap will be fine." She answered.

Inuyasha paid and they moved to sit down at a table outside in the morning sun. The air was mildly warm, but there were signs that it would get a lot hotter before the day was done.

"So if you didn't want to win this competition then why did you accept it?" Inuyasha asked, fiddling with the salt pot on the table.

"Did I have a choice to refuse?" Kagome shot back, watching his fiddling fingers with annoyance. "If I'd said no then everyone I knew would have a go at me for passing up the opportunity. Besides, I thought there was a slim possibility that you would be nice and that a week with a guy so 'perfect' as you would be cool." She gave him a cold look. "I was obviously wrong."

"Ooh… bitter are we?" he gave her a smile that she knew was as phoney as he was. "You're just jealous because you're not rich and famous."

"I'm _glad _I'm not a rich snob like you." She told him seriously. "Now that I've seen how it's corrupted a person like you, I will quite happily go back to my little shrine and get on with my insignificant, humble life, thank you very much."

Inuyasha shrugged and started looking around the café. Kagome reckoned he was cruising for a pretty face… the same way someone examined magazines on a shelf before selecting which one they wanted to take home. She sighed and looked out across the street. It was quiet since it was so early in the morning, though a few people on the street had noticed Inuyasha, but were either too shy or rich to approach. She turned a disgruntled look back on her star. "So what the hell did you do to deserve all this?"

"Deserve what?" he gave her a bored look.

"As far as I can see you're like that model Jordan."

"What? Blonde with massive breasts?"

"No." she gave him a disgusted look. "Famous for just being famous. There must be more to it than that? What did you do to get this famous?"

"You really aren't a fan are you?" he gave her a genuinely amused look, but it was at her own expense. "You've been living in the dark all these years, you poor thing. Don't you read the news or the magazines."

"I don't thrive off listening to gossip about celebrities. They're boring, stupid and used to be nice people until they got famous." Kagome shrugged. "They don't interest me. You just bored me."

"Charming." Inuyasha turned sideways in his chair to look elsewhere again.

"So? What _are _you famous for?" she pressed, perhaps willing to admit to herself that she was a little interested to know. Inuyasha was a slightly more interesting celebrity now that she'd met him and realised how fake his image was.

"For whatever." He shrugged. "At first I was just famous because when I was born my dad was the current prime minister and my mother was his trophy wife."

"She was an underwear model wasn't she?" Kagome cocked her head.

Inuyasha made a vague sound. "She was a professional model as well, you know, on the catwalk and all. She lasted a whole seven years, longer than anyone else in the business because she retained her youth and because she was kinda exotic looking with her hair and eyes and things," he gestured to his own features to let her know what he meant.

"Why did she only last seven years?" Kagome asked. Was modelling that hard a job to hold onto?

"She got killed didn't she? In that car crash." The look he gave her was a narrowed one and Kagome immediately realised that she'd put her foot straight into that one.

"Oh… sorry…"

He seemed to regard her callously before giving a small laugh and a smile and looking away again. It wasn't a real smile though. But was it ever a real smile? "She'd still be in the business today if she hadn't died." He tipped his head back. "But I really don't fancy seeing my mother prancing around in revealing underwear all the time."

Kagome tried to suppress her amused smile at that comment. Successfully, she managed to squash it down. "What else are you famous for? There must be more than that."

"Well there was a rather large boost in fame when the parents kicked the bucket." He admitted. "Pity vote I suppose… and while Kaede was looking after-"

"Who's Kaede?"

"My father's sister. My aunt who was my guardian for a while." Kagome had already heard that tale, she realised. "Anyway, while that old bat was 'looking after' me I did the gift jobs."

"Like?" Kagome pressed.

"Like kid modelling? Same thing as my brother for a while, but that was too… uh… too camp I guess. Gave that up after a while." He seemed to strain to remember what he'd done with himself since then. "Then… last year Kikyo made me release that designer range of men's cologne, for which she made me the spokesmodel."

"Oh yeah!" Kagome remembered. "I saw a documentary on that once… They said it sold because it was Inuyasha in a bottle… people would kill for it. But it smells nothing like you…" A casual observation, or she hoped it sounding like one.

"Everyone who buys that stuff has no idea what I smell like." He smiled slyly. "It's the one thing a Tv and a radio and an interview can't give – aroma."

Kagome shook her head. "That's ridiculous."

"It made me rich."

__

Thanks for the reminder. But there had to be more. "You're only famous because men are going around thinking they smell like you?"

"No… there's the whole fighting thing."

Kagome narrowed her eyes at him. "What, are you some kind of martial artist?"

"I can't believe you're so ignorant." He smirked at her. "Everyone knows that one!"

"I don't!" she defended herself.

"I'm not a martial artist, I never have been and I never plan to be one." He said snippily. "I fight in a ring."

"Oh… so you're like a wrestling champion?"

"Wrestling is a choreographed ballet for wimps who don't want to get hurt. I do the real deal."

Kagome frowned. "What's the real deal?" then she realised. "Ah, you're a boxer of some sort?"

"Of some sort." He shrugged. "And you wanna know the secret to my success?"

"What would that be?" She was genuinely interested now.

"My nose."

She looked at him incredulously, eyeing his nose warily and wondering what that had to do with anything. It was just a nose. It sat in the middle of his face and completed his even features. But it wasn't that spectacular was it? "Your nose…" she echoed slowly.

"Yeah. Broken it twenty-seven times. But it's healed perfectly each time." 

Now Kagome understood. Girls wouldn't look twice at a guy with a repeatedly broken, flattened nose. Because he could heal he retained his good looks and charm but at the same time could handle one of the roughest sports in the business. "You're still a dick." She told him bluntly, sitting back in her chair.

"A dick with a good nose." He smirked and was about to go on when he saw something behind her that made him falter. "Oh crap…"

"What?" Kagome turned to see what held his attention. What she saw was a rather familiar face walking towards them. Kagome watched the approaching girl for a moment before remembering where she'd seen that face – or more correctly – where she'd seen those breasts before.

She whipped back around to face Inuyasha. "That's Angelique Spagni!" she hissed under her breath.

"I know." He said in a normal voice. "And you don't have to whisper. She doesn't speak anything other than French."

"Oh." Kagome blinked in surprise. Even more to Kagome's surprise, the model didn't just pass them by… instead, when she spotted Inuyasha she let out a cute French exclamation of surprise and marched right over to him to sit on his lap. "Ma petite puce!"

"Angel honey!" he looked slightly confused. "What are you doing here? I thought you were on a plane back to France?"

"Ma poulette!" The French model wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled against him comfortably.

Kagome gaped softly at the pair. She might as well have not been there for all the attention Angelique gave her. That was just plain rude. "You do realise…" she said to Inuyasha. "That she just called you 'her little flea' and 'her baby chicken'?"

"You understand French!" he blinked at her. "Good – you can translate for me."

"I'm not doing anything for a revolting player like you!" she snapped, trying not to get too embarrassed by watching Angelique's behaviour.

"No, just tell her that while she's great, I don't think this is working out. I think we should see other people." He leaned away slightly as Angelique aimed a kiss on his cheek.

Kagome glanced between the two before snapping her fingers to get Angelique's attention. "He says… Je pense que nous devrions voirs d'autres personnes… Moi même j'en vois depuis trois moins." Roughly translated: I think we should see other people… I have for the last three months.

Poor Angelique sat up quickly, giving Inuyasha a bewildered look.

"Great," Inuyasha said, clueless to what Kagome had translated for him. "Now tell her that she's beautiful and any man is lucky to have her – just not me."

Kagome quite casually turned back to the model. "Il te quitte pour un humain." He's leaving you for a real human.

Angelique gasped and leant back even further, staring at Inuyasha with utter hurt and pain. Inuyasha completely misread the look as a girl who was 'gently' being dumped. "Now tell her 'thanks'."

"Il ne suis sorti avec toi que dans le cadre d'un pari." He only went out with you on a bet. Inuyasha slanted Kagome a strange look… that hadn't sounded like a mere 'thanks' to him.

But that was enough for the French Angel. She drew her hand back and slapped Inuyasha quite soundly across the cheek before getting off his lap and flouncing off. Kagome watched her leaving with mild amusement before turning back to Inuyasha. "Smooth, Inuyasha."

"That went quite well." He rubbed his stinging cheek, but he gave her a suspcious look. "Are you sure you translated acurately?"

"Word for word." She said sincerely whilst crossing her fingers under the table. 

"Well hopefully that's the last time I have to face _that _particular bombshell." He sat forward as their breakfast arrived.

Kagome picked at her muffin half-heartedly eyeing Inuyasha across the table. She knew it was cruel, but she couldn't help but play another trick. "Inuyasha?"

"Yes, Kaguri?"

"That's Kagome."

"Whatever."

"You have lipstick on your cheek."

Inuyasha then spent the best part of that breakfast trying to wipe off the imaginary lipstick that just wouldn't seem to go away…

Kagome realised that if he really was this dumb, then perhaps her week wouldn't be a total loss after all…

AN: Yeah… I know he's being a total jerk right now… but I swear he'll get better, given time… maybe…


	5. 1992?

****

Author's Notes: My computer's got a virus so I can't quite manage to get online anymore (a bad thing because when I am deprived of the internet I turn destructive and grumpy) but now I can't get my mail and uploading new chapters is going to be a long, roundabout process. (I'm using someone else's computer now)

Apart from that, a lot has happened over the weekend: I officially became a college drop-out (?!) but only because my family are planning to move out of Manchester and go down to Essex so I get the chance to go to a better college next September. _And _we plan to get a dog some time in the near future, it only took sixteen years of begging (this is a big deal since we are the type of family who never own dogs). But since now that I only have a part time job and no schooling I really do have more time on my hands than I have ever had in my life…

I'm dead bored now… but anyway, here's the new chapter which may be the last update for a while, so better make the most of it. 

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 5

1992?

"Do you know what the most annoying question in the world is?" Miroku asked Kagome.

Sango hazarded a guess for her as she sipped her coffee from a distance. "Will you bear my child?" 

Miroku gave her a disparaging look across the small security surveillance room. "I only ever asked you that once." He pointed out.

"That doesn't make it any less of a stupid question." Sango responded, dipping her cookie into her coffee to make it soggy. Kagome glanced between the two, realising that this was some sort of ongoing debate that she had yet to be let in on. She slid her gaze to the multiple CCTV monitors against the wall, all showing her pictures of what was going on around the mansion villa thing. On the third monitor she could see Kikyo talking with someone dressed in black in the middle of some random corridor she didn't recognise. On the middle monitor she could see the outdoor pool lit by a green night vision filter; someone, probably Inuyasha, was doing laps. A middle aged woman was cooking in the kitchens accompanied by several other chefs, but she seemed to be in charge. Kagome guessed that was the one everyone inventively called 'cook'.

"So!" Miroku stopped his casual bickering with Sango to turn back to her in his swivelling chair. He leant forward so his forearms rested on the desk between them. "Where was I?"

"At the most annoying question in the world." Kagome swivelled lightly left and right on her own chair.

"Oh yes. The most annoying question in the world is the first question that every person you meet from now on will ask you when they meet you." Miroku lectured, half watching the security monitors… or probably just the two cleaner girls that were comparing knicker colour in the sauna room. "And that question is… whoa… is that red lace?"

Sango's clipboard smacked him round the head before the actual girl marched over and switched the sauna room monitor off. "Get back on topic you stupid pervert…" With that she marched right back to her seat on the second desk in the room.

"Right…" Miroku rubbed his head as he tried to remember the media training he was giving. "Ok, the most overused question you will ever come across will be 'How do you feel about this and that?' It will vary slightly, but everyone will ask you how you feel."

"Doesn't seem that bad." Kagome shrugged.

"Then how do you feel about spending seven days with the world's hottest seventeen year old?" Miroku pinned her with the question.

Kagome stopped swinging in her chair as she struggled to find an answer. She knew exactly how she felt… but putting it into structured sentences was hard. She could think of a few words though… irritated, bored, homesick. "I feel… ok, I guess?"

"Not exactly an answer that will sit well I'm afraid." Miroku shook his head. "And they will ask it again and again and every time you answer you will have to make it sound like it is the first time you have ever heard the question."

Kagome sighed. "Is it really this dull answering questions?"

"It gets easier the longer you do it." He shrugged in response. "When different people ask the same questions you can just give the same answers as before, then you don't have to do any work at all at that point. Everyone will ask you your favourite colour, your favourite female idol and whatever. And… Sango, I really think we should turn that monitor back on – what if they decide to steal something?"

"Like what? Steam?" Sango stirred her coffee. "Relax Miroku, you only want to see if they compare breast size next."

Miroku coughed and turned back to Kagome to lecture her some more about smiling in public. "There are specialists out there who _will _analyse your smiles, really, they are that sad. Anyway, for that reason make sure you always smile with your eyes and not just your mouth…"

Kagome barely took in the words he was telling her as her attention wandering to the security monitors again, noting that Kikyo was now walking somewhere, passing through several different screens, and Inuyasha was getting out of the pool. 

She let her eyes stay on him for a while as she watched him climbing up the slanted steps that led down into the pool. Fortunately he wasn't wearing speedos or Kagome probably would have laughed out loud and alerted Miroku to the fact that she wasn't listening at all anymore. He picked up a folded towel from a sun bed and bent double to cover his hair, straightening slowly as he began to rub the water out of his locks.

He wandered slowly over to one of the tables around the pool where his shirt had been abandoned. His hand reached out to it, but instead of picking up the shirt, he picked up a fist sized white box. Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly as she tried to see what it was, but with the bleached colours of the monitor she couldn't make out any details whatsoever.

But she recognised the way his hands moved around the box… the way he slid something out, put it to his lips, dumped it, and then picked up a small darker coloured object and brought that to his lips as well.

Kagome sat up. "Does Inuyasha smoke?"

Miroku stopped talking mid-flow, clearly confused at her sudden question and his mouth moved to form an inquiry. He quickly disregarded that as he realised she was staring at the CCTV monitor behind him. The media organiser turned quickly in his chair and jabbed the power button for the pool camera, losing the image of the pool side and leaving nothing more than a fading dot in the middle of the screen. He turned back to Kagome with a smile. "So remember, when you smile don't forget to think crows feet."

Kagome blinked at him before glancing at Sango who was watching Miroku carefully, as if observing him with curiosity. Kagome darted a look back at the blank screen behind Miroku's shoulder and frowned slightly, before deciding that she had better start listening to his teachings or risk missing something vital.

Sunday night seemed oddly quiet to Kagome. Unlike Saturday night, there was no banging on the ceiling above her and now that Kagome knew it was Inuyasha's room above hers, she wondered what he had been doing the previous night.

A rather irritating kind of restlessness fell over her and she tossed and turned on her oversized, overstuffed emperor sized bed. She twiddled her fingers restlessly, clenching and unclenching them in the cool satin and silk materials around her. But eventually she decided she couldn't take it anymore. She just _couldn't _sleep in that bed, it was just too foreign and different than her own bed at home at the Shrine. _Her _bed was warm and comfy with a little groove in middle from the imprint of her body that had been lying there every night for the last ten years. This bed was cold, and while comfy, it was detached and had no soul.

A bed needed a soul, Kagome decided as she slipped her feet onto the beige carpeted floor and pulled her fluffy dressing gown around her body before padding over to the large windows that stretched from ceiling to floor. Gingerly she took hold of the handle on the doors set into the windows and pushed it open.

The breeze was cool and gentle while smelling strongly of salt and perhaps a little bit of chlorine from the pool below. She stepped over to the stone wall that rounded her balcony and leaned over it to peer down at the undisturbed surface of the swimming pool. She gazed at it a moment before turning her eyes up and looking out over the stretch of beaches ahead.

But when the moon was barely a slither of white in the sky, it was hard to make out much beyond the pool and the cliff edge. The sea looked black and forbidding and it seemed to merge right with the black sky above it; Kagome couldn't make out where one ended and the other began.

It wasn't long before she got bored of watching blackness and so she turned her eyes upwards to the balcony above her, not that that gave her much to look at either. She wondered if Inuyasha was sleeping up there.

Now there was something to go home and tell her friends. She'd slept in the room just beneath _the _Inuyasha. But by the time she got back she'd be able to tell her friends much more… including the part where she had called the world's most famous superstar a dick… to his face.

Kagome laughed slightly and put her hand to her head. If someone had told her she was going to readily insult Inuyasha last week then she wouldn't have believed them. But now that she'd met him, she realised that he wasn't as perfect as everyone made him out to be. He _was _a jerk and a bully whose ego was so big it was bursting out of the seams. _And _he was a slut…

But perhaps Kagome had to admit that even if he hadn't been as famous as he was, he still would be a guy at the top of the pecking order who would have girls queuing up outside his house to go on dates. When Inuyasha entered the room, you knew about it. He had a presence that probably came with being famous for so long – he just oozed self-esteem and confidence. She'd noticed it the first time she'd laid eyes on him. 

"Disgusting really…" Kagome said aloud, determined to stay true to her views on the pillock above her.

With a sigh she went back into her room and closed the glass doors after her. Now what? She still didn't feel tired – probably an effect of the last twenty four hours of fame academy that had been going on around her.

Then she remembered the piano in the classic room…

Without a second thought she left her bedroom and trotted down the corridor, taking the same path she had memorised with Sango that morning. She headed into the elevator and took it to the ground level before padding silently down into the very empty, quiet entrance hall, past the snoozing security guard, and headed straight for the large double doors of the 'classic' room.

They opened quietly enough and Kagome quickly slipped inside then closed them securely behind her. She was going to have to take Sango's word for it that this room was soundproof and so hoped that she wouldn't wake the sleeping guard out there. 

*~*

Miroku and Sango were on the late night shift again, which wasn't exactly the high-light of their job… but at least they got to sleep in next morning.

"Go fish." Sango told Miroku as she eyed her own hand of cards sceptically.

"I'm tired of playing Go Fish." Miroku announced as he let his cards drop onto the table, ending the game whether Sango liked it or not. "Let's play strip poker. That's much more fun."

"Let's not." Sango sighed as she threw down her own cards and started picking at a loose thread on her sleeve. "God… I hate night shift…"

"Someone's got to keep an eye out for trouble." Miroku said dutifully as he turned back to the security monitors. A movement caught his eye. "Shit – what's that?"

Sango quickly turned to follow his gaze, hand already going to her intercom to call for security. But she relaxed at once when she saw what he had seen. "Oh… it's only Kagome."

Miroku relaxed a little. "She plays piano then?"

"Apparently." Sango tapped at the volume button on the monitor. "Do we have sound on this thing?"

"Nope."

"Remind me to ask Inuyasha to put a microphone in each room the next time we upgrade security." She sighed and sat back in her chair, watching the schoolgirl play silent music.

"He won't do that." Miroku leant back in his own chair to behind balancing a pencil under his nose… a difficult task to do while talking. "He hates security measures. He says it's worse than have fans crawling all over the place. Besides… it's not like we need high-tech equipment. Last time burglars tried to break in and got past security, it was Inuyasha who apprehended them before they got anywhere."

"Mm. I suppose." Sango mumbled as she rested her chin on an upturned palm. She watched Miroku and his balancing act for a moment before deciding to pursue a question that had been on her mind. "You didn't answer Kagome's question during media training." She commented.

"What question?" he carried on balancing.

"About Inuyasha smoking."

He sighed as he sat up again and looked at her. "Look, I know that she's an exception in this case seeing as how we're _supposed _to let her get all close and comfortable with us in the villa, but there are some things that she _can't _go spreading around when she settles back into her normal life."

"Even about Inuyasha smoking?"

"He needs to maintain that clean-cut image." Miroku sighed.

Sango just frowned at him. "Make him stop if it's going to tarnish his image." She felt she pointed out the obvious.

"I've tried!" Miroku gave the ceiling a despairing look. "Kikyo's tried but he never _listens_ to the voice of reason."

They lapsed into a comfortable quiet, mulling over their thoughts and disgruntlement about the superstar that employed them.

"Which means," Miroku said slowly, "no matter what the circumstances, we keep certain… _things _from little Kagome. Including that…" he looked about him suspiciously before lowering his voice. "that 1992 incident."

Sango stiffened. "Oh."

"What 'oh'?" he frowned at her slightly.

She darted a worried gaze to his. "Um… I may have accidentally… mentioned the incident to Kagome."

If Inuyasha learnt that, Sango would loose her head. Miroku stared at her intently. "How much did you tell her?"

"Oh – nothing more than just mentioned it. I didn't tell her what happened or anything." Sango darted a look at the Tv monitor behind her, checking that Kagome was still there. "I mean… she doesn't know anything beyond the fact that something happened in that year…"

"Good." Miroku nodded, but seemed to be unsettled. "Let's hope that doesn't arouse her interest anymore than it has done… but I'm afraid that if she asks us about it again… we can't act like we're hiding anything or that will make her suspicious."

"So what, we just tell her?" Sango rapped her nails anxiously against the desk. "We _can't _tell her! You just said-"

"I know but it may harm us more if we _don't_, do you see my point?"

"Vaguely." She ran a hand trough her high ponytail and brought it to lie on her shoulder, playing with the tips as she stared at the desk between them. "Oh great Miroku… now I'm worried about her…"

"Don't worry," he patted her hand. "Besides… I'm always here to take comfort in."

Sango pulled her hand away from his sharply and glared at him. "Thanks but _no _thanks."

~*~

"Hey Pimp!"

"Yes, Candy?"

"I'm Kagome!"

"And _I'm _Inuyasha."

__

Glad we have that sorted, Kagome thought tersely as she approached the superstar where he was lounging on a sun bed beside the pool. Now _this _was the image Kagome had often pictured when thinking of a spoilt, overrated star who had as much room in his wallet as he had brains… which was to say very little. He had dark sunglasses shielding his eyes from the sun's glare on, along with a tall cold beverage in his hand that Kagome suspected was some expensive Italian brand.

"What do you want, brat?" he asked without twitching a muscle to acknowledge her arrival.

"Brat?" she echoed. "You're barely older than I am."

"Well I was going to call you bitch but you'd probably puff up like an angry toad who's been stepped on…" he turned his head slightly towards her. "You wouldn't happen to have the time would you?"

Kagome sighed slowly, desperately trying to control her annoyance with him. "It's just gone one in the afternoon." She answered slowly. 

"Monday, right?"

"Yes."

"Cool…"

"Now you answer my question."

"Sure thing, Kurami," he said as he began to sit up, setting his drink on a small table beside the sun bed. "But while you do that, honey, could you rub some lotion onto my shoulders, I think I feel them burning."

"If this is another attempt to 'woo' me then you can go-"

"Just do it."

Strangely, Kagome felt almost compelled to obey him for his tone of voice alone. After all he'd been bossing people around for the better part of his life – he _knew _how to boss. She resisted it for a moment before deciding he would only be difficult with her if she didn't at least _try _to butter to guy up. Rolling her eyes discreetly she sat down with a thump behind him and grabbed the nearby bottle of lotion in one hand and dolloped a nice big portion of the bottle into her hand. With that done she threw the bottle over her shoulder, pushed his overly manicured and pampered hair out of the way to slap the cool gel bang onto his shoulders.

"What the – how much are you using?!" he jumped away, startled.

"What?" she asked, peering at him innocently with her hands caked in white sun cream and held up in a surrendering gesture. "I'm just being thorough."

"Alright… just don't get any on my hair." He clung onto his snowy tresses protectively as she mouthed an insult at him and got back to work on his back.

"You know…" she started slowly. "Sango said something funny to me yesterday… it got me wondering…"

"Mm hm." He hummed. "Bit lower."

Kagome clenched her teeth and glowered off at the sculptured bushes that edged the stairway down from the villa to the pool. "She was telling me all about you. Probably trying to get me to like you. She said something about an incident that happened in 1992…" she trailed off slightly when she noticed a slight tensing in the muscles of his back. If she hadn't been in contact with him she wouldn't have noticed.

"Mm hm." He hummed, giving nothing away.

"And I was wondering… what happened that year? Sango didn't really elaborate." Kagome frowned slightly as he refused to let his muscles relax, but for all appearances seemed as casual and uninterested as before in his manner. "I was just curious and-"

She didn't get a chance to go on when Inuyasha suddenly spun around, grabbed both her wrists in his hands and pushed her back down onto the sun bed. If Kagome hadn't already been prepared for anything this guy could throw at her from their first encounter in the limo, she would have been too shocked to react successfully. But luckily her lightning-fast response time saved her from that certain kiss of death.

"GET OFF YOU-" she twisted mightily with a scream, wrenching both hands free and pushed angrily at his face. "-ROTTEN SCUM!"

Either she'd caught him off guard or he hadn't been too bothered about her resisting, but she managed to push him back far enough to scramble off the sun bed. She whirled on him angrily, but kept herself at a safe distance. Her glare was as sharp as a razor edged blade as she watched him wiping at the sun cream with distaste that she'd spread on his face. "You…" she began in low, dangerous voice.

Then she really let him have it.

~*~

"Um… am I fired?"

The cleaner girl that Kikyo was addressing in her office looked positively petrified at being asked to see her. Kikyo merely leaned back in her cushy office chair and clasped her fingers together in a pose very reminiscent of the late Mr Burns. Usually it was hard choosing which employee to fire when the villa got too overcrowded, but this time it was easy… after all this was the current on-the-side girlfriend of his almighty.

"Of course not, Rena." Kikyo smiled tightly. "I enjoy e-mail jokes as much as the next person. In fact I'm still laughing about your 'top ten signs that Inuyasha's agent is a frigid cow'."

"Oh my god… you're sacking me," the girl looked pale and drained.

"No, don't be ridiculous. I'm not petty." _Not much anyway_, Kikyo thought as she tapped her fingers together slightly. "We're just… making some changes to the requirements of the job."

"Oh…"

"From now on cleaner girls will need a PhD to continue working here." Kagome went back to shuffling her papers. "Feel free to apply here for a job when you get one."

"Well that's a relief!" the cleaner girl put a hand to her chest, looking happy. "Thank god I've got a PhD!"

Kikyo's smile slipped slightly and she turned hard eyes on the girl. "Excuse me?"

"Only in cleaning – didn't take me long." Chirped the cleaner.

"Well… ok…" Kikyo was not about to be outdone by a cleaner. "And… you'll also need at least a bronze Olympic medal to-"

"Silver. Junior gymnastics 1996." The girl replied smartly.

Unbelievable. She knew that only the best of the best worked here under Inuyasha, but this was unreal. "Well…" she twiddled a pen between her fingers rapidly. "Personally, I don't think you're fitting in. So you're fired. Goodbye." _And don't let the door hit you on the way out_, she mentally added as she watched the girl stagger out of the room in bewilderment.

Feeling satisfied that she'd put in a good morning's work, Kikyo went off in search of Inuyasha, knowing that she'd always find him by the pool side at that time of day. He liked to loaf off his lunch in the sun… more like a cat than a dog.

As she neared the french doors that opened out onto the pool she slowed slightly. A rather hoarse voice yelling from outside could be heard drifting up from the pool area. Kikyo stopped to listen.

"-**_and I will not be seduced by the fifteen watt personality power of a swaggering heap of over-active testosterone glands and churlish masculinity courtesy of Neanderthal-induced charms with beer-deadened brain cells you dim-witted pompadour and inept social moron!!!_**"

Well… that girl certainly had her way with words. Kikyo eagerly moved on towards the source, interested to find out which maid or staff-member was resilient to the 'Neanderthal-induced charms'. She'd just reached the doorway when a rather red-faced Kagome shot through them, barged past her and ran as though for dear life away down the corridor.

Kikyo followed her progress for a moment before turning slowly to look down at the pool. Inuyasha was still sitting on his sun-bed, rubbing cream on his face as if nothing had happened. But it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

Arching an eyebrow she descended down the stairs. Inuyasha looked up as she approached, looking innocently expectant. But as soon as she was within reach she grabbed one of his ears, twisted it and hauled him to his feet.

"Ow – ow – ow – ow – get off!" he yelped as she dragged him towards the pool. "Kikyo – I mean it – get off me!"

She did get off. And as soon as she let go of his ear she shoved him in the chest and sent him plunging into the water. Kikyo waited patiently for him to surface again as she folded her arms and sighed deeply.

Inuyasha broke the surface with a gasp. "What the hell was that for?!"

"I warned you." She said in an even, authoritative voice. "I warned you not to touch her – but what do you do?"

"I was only messing…" I grumbled, ducking down in the water slightly like a sullen child.

That was all he was really, Kikyo thought as she narrowed her eyes. Nothing but a sullen, spoilt child. "She didn't seem to think it was funny. You'll be lucky if we don't get any charges of molesting."

He visibly clenched his jaw. "Sango told her about what happened in 1992."

Kikyo regarded him through hooded eyes. "Did she now." She cocked her head. "How much does the girl know?"

"Only that something happened." He treaded water softly as he watched her intently.

Kikyo only gave a faint sigh. "We might as well tell her now that she's caught wind…"

"No!" Inuyasha jerked so suddenly that he sank a few inches before he regained his balance. "We don't tell her – if we do then she'll go and tell everyone else. She's just a kid, we can't trust this kind of thing to her."

"But now she won't stop asking." Kikyo pointed out.

"I managed to make her think about something else." Inuyasha shot back craftily.

Ah… quite a clever ploy actually. But it was still wrong of him to try and pull that kind of thing. "You can't do that every time she asks."

"Oh, she wanted me to." He said knowingly. "You could see it in her eyes that she was struggling to keep her hands off me – it was only because she heard you coming that she ran off like that."

Somehow Kikyo doubted that. "You're a tosser, Inuyasha. I don't know why I work for you." She picked up his pile of clothes and dry towels before walking to the pool edge and holding them out precariously above the water.

"Don't you dare – don't you dare-" she dropped them. "Ooh… you're such a bitch! I should just fire you!"

"Then by all means…?" she spread her arms invitingly. "Go ahead and fire me."

He narrowed his eyes as he hesitated to fulfil his threat. "I'll give you one more chance…"

"Hm." Kikyo smiled slightly before turning on her heel and heading back up the stairs. "And don't forget, you have a fight coming up on Wednesday so make sure you keep in top form. It's against Kouga."

"Now you tell me…" Inuyasha grumbled as he watched her walk back inside before ducking completely under water again to try and clear his head.

~*~

"I think he really upset her this time…" Sango's voice said.

Miroku responded, "Maybe she's tired, I mean, I would be if I stayed up all night pacing around whatnot."

"Well… I'll tell cook to leave some food out in case she gets hungry and comes down."

"Inuyasha will eat it." 

"Then I'll label it 'Kagome's'."

"He doesn't remember names – he'll think it's fair game."

"Urgh… I don't like her skipping dinner… but…"

The voices of the pair faded away until Kagome was alone again in her quiet bedroom. It was still fairly light outside, but she still felt wiped out and tired. Hunger was the last thing on her mind while that _idiot _was weighing heavily down on her.

"I should call Mom…" she muttered half-heartedly to her empty room. Perhaps she should call her friends and shatter all their dreams by telling them all about Inuyasha's bad attitude. No… they'd probably think he was extra cool for having an attitude anyway…

She still remembered what her mother had said from the previous night. She'd told Kagome to change him. "Hah!" Kagome laughed without humour. Inuyasha was an incurable prima donna… no way would someone like him change his ways within the space of a week, and Kagome was the _last _person on earth who'd be able to preach him.

Though… Kagome frowned deeply as she pondered… she did wonder what kind of person Inuyasha would have been if fame hadn't been shoved in his mouth at the tender age of two minutes old. He was difficult, surly and expected everyone to bend over backwards for him because that's all people had done for him over the past seventeen years most likely.

Perhaps Kagome was presenting herself as a challenge? She liked the sound of that… but then again, she had already heard that Kikyo was already enough of a challenge for the superstar.

__

What could I possibly do that he's never seen before? Other than scream abuse at him and try and open his eyes to how abnormal his behaviour was?… not much… _There's no way I can change him…_

It was a few hours later when Kagome roused enough to open her eyes to glance blearily out at the black outdoors through her windows… she'd forgotten to close the curtains. But before she could focus herself enough, a dark shape flitted down from the balcony above hers, landed on her stone wall, before dropping down out of sight.

Kagome could have sworn it was Inuyasha… but Inuyasha didn't have black hair did he? Kagome dismissed her thoughts and settled back down to sleep. Perhaps all white hair looked black when there was no moon overhead to cast light. 

AN: TTFN ^_^


	6. Dog Walking

****

Author's Notes: Yay! Managed to update before the holiday! Anyway, this engineer came and tried to fix the computer. He found _five _viruses but they had nothing to do with my internet problems so now he's walked off with my computer to try and fix it by… sometime soon. I really hope he was an engineer and not just some guy mum invited off the street again…

(By the way, this chapter takes a bit of a turn)

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 6

Dog-Walking

Kagome decided it was time to go for a walk the next day… mostly because Kikyo was marching around the villa in the most foul mood Kagome had witnessed so far. She had blown up at three innocent, slightly clueless bystanders – two cleaners and a cook from the kitchens. She was really on the warpath.

And why was she on the warpath? Because of Inuyasha, naturally.

He was missing.

"Where is he? Where – is – he?" Was Kikyo's general mantra as she stomped through the rooms and corridors looking for one lost superstar.

If there was any good time to leave the villa, it was then. Kagome skipped down the front steps of the villa before stopping for a moment to survey the area around her. She could go look around the gardens and sniff a few flowers here and there, or she could go down to the beach and build some sand castles.

Or maybe she could do a runner and get a taxi back home to where she belonged. She was beginning to feel the ache of homesickness already. She missed not being able to see her family… her mother especially. She missed not being able to load off her problems on her friends, though she knew very well that even if they were around they wouldn't care about her problems – they would only care about the guy who was driving her to her wits end.

"I'll be so glad when this is over…" she murmured to herself as she stepped off the stairs and onto the gravel of the driveway.

"Hey Kagome! What'cha doing?"

Kagome turned sharply to the origin on the voice and spotted Sango coming around the corner of the villa, three German Shepherds dragging her along by their leashes. After Sango came Miroku with four dogs and after him followed several more volunteers who all seemed to be hauling dogs after them.

"What are you doing?" Kagome called as they approached. "Some kind of sponsored dog walk?"

"No, no," Miroku shook his head. "They need they're exercise once a day and there are so many of them that it practically takes everyone we've got to give them their walkies."

Kagome gave him a weighing look. "You're hiding from Kikyo, aren't you?"

"Well aren't you?" he shot back.

Sango pulled her dogs to a stop as she neared Kagome. "Haven't you seen her? She goes ballistic every time he pulls something like this."

"Has he done this kind of thing before?" Kagome asked uncertainly.

"Well…" Sango shrugged slightly. "He usually does it on the new moon… only because that's the one time of the month when he can blend with average people and not be recognised for who he is."

"Personally I don't blame him for getting out and about if he has the chance." Miroku said seriously.

"But he never warns us, no note, no farewell, he just dashes off and is usually back in his bed before Kikyo can tell him off." Sango continued. "But this time he hasn't come back."

"Maybe he's tired of being famous?" Well it had sounded more reasonable in her head. But the moment she said it, both Miroku and Sango snorted with laughter. Kagome realised how stupid that idea was now… Inuyasha, tired of fame? Maybe in some strange alternate reality.

"I doubt that very much." Miroku laughed, tears of mirth were almost in his eyes. " More likely he's been on a binge all night and has passed out in some ditch being prodded by a few kids with sticks and won't be-" He broke off when Sango gave him a rather hard elbow in the stomach. "Um… I mean… that's what _I'd _have done. Now Inuyasha's probably out there right now donating to some orphanage and he's too busy playing with the children to come back just yet."

Kagome didn't buy that for a second. Sango didn't either. The older girl sighed heavily and rolled her eyes, "Come on you big gas bag, we have to get these dogs back to their posts by three."

A rather brilliant, if not impulsive idea struck Kagome. "Hey – why don't you let me take one of them for a walk down the beach?"

Miroku stopped and looked back at her. "You can handle a dog, right?"

"Course she can." Sango grinned. "She handles Inuyasha better than any of us."

Miroku, probably not quite as convinced as Sango, handed her the leash of one of the smaller German Shepherds. "Alright, you take Bess, she likes the beach. But make sure you bring her back by three o'clock otherwise Kikyo will shout at _us_."

"Alright then," Kagome waved as they parted ways.

She decided the take the path down to the beach that Sango had shown her the previous day on their little tour of the villa. It was a route that led down from the pool area, down the cliffs along a set of stone steps that were ingrained into the rock face. 

At the bottom of the steps Kagome was surprised to be affronted by yet more security measures – including an electric fence complete with a guard dressed in clothes eerily similar to a swat uniform.

"Um… I'm dog walking." Kagome pointed to Bess who was currently running around her ankles as if trying to tangle her up in the lead. The guard pressed the big red button on the panel to deactivate the electrical current before opening up the gate to allow her through.

The beach was practically full to the brim with better than average looking people. Kagome guessed that they all possessed at least half as much money as Inuyasha to be allowed _this _close to his seaside villa. Most were young women who were probably on the prowl for a certain white haired young superstar.

Bess the dog seemed to be off in lala land as she trailed Kagome round in circles keeping her nose to the ground… probably chasing some mysterious scent that was over Kagome's head. She just followed wherever Bess led.

It was a nice day, not a cloud in the sky and the sand beneath her was so hot it scorched her bare toes in her sandals. This was the kind of weather one only experienced on summer holidays… but it was most likely that every day here was pretty much a holiday for Inuyasha.

Speaking of which, this latest turn of events left Kagome even more revolted with him than ever. What kind of person abandoned everyone in the middle of the night without a hint of warning and went missing the next day? Anyone with a hint of sense would have at least left a message letting everyone know where they had gone and when they would be back. Apparently no one knew if they should start worrying about Inuyasha, or just accept that he probably wouldn't be back till evening.

Miroku was probably right though… he was probably currently lying in some gutter with a beer bottle in his hand. And what was the deal with the new moon anyway? What made the new moon so special…?

A vague memory suddenly returned to Kagome of the night before, but it was so vague and distant that she couldn't tell if it was a dream or some kind of déjà vu feeling. She could have sworn she'd seen someone, possibly Inuyasha, jump down onto her balcony… but she couldn't determine if she'd really seen it or not.

"He's still rude." She told the dog who insisted on dragging her through the surf (a nice relief for her hot toes). 

The only reason Inuyasha was such a neurotic head case was because no one had actually bothered bringing him up properly. His parents had died when he was eleven, but Kagome had her doubts that a former prime minister and an underwear model were such wonderful role-models for a growing child. And after they'd gone he'd been stuck with an aunt who obviously hadn't let love or bags of money stop her from walking out on him. What kind of life was that for a kid anyway?

And what exactly had happened in 1992 that everyone seemed reluctant to talk about?

Kagome had already gone around trying to get people to talk about it, but the people she talked to often or not suddenly remembered important appointments that they needed to go to, or just cleverly avoided the subject altogether.

Whatever had happened in that year was a subject that not many people seemed to want to talk about. It seemed as if most of the new members of staff were as clueless as Kagome as to what had happened in 1992, but older members who had been around for eleven or so years seemed to have taken an oath of silence on the matter…

Kagome wasn't getting any answers…

"Hey!"

Two girls in bikinis which were obviously too small for them practically jumped her. Kagome had to dig her heels into the sand to avoid Bess dragging her off her feet.

"Say," the girl in the pink cocked her head and put a finger to her chin. "You're that Higashi girl that won that competition aren't you?!"

"That's Higurashi." It seemed as if Kagome would forever be plagued with people who just couldn't be bothered getting the name right.

"Could you do us a teensy favour for us?" the girl in purple begged with her hands together.

Here it came. She was forever going to be famous as 'that girl what knew Inuyasha'. Kagome was really beginning to resent her 'golden opportunity'.

"Could you get Inuyasha's autograph for us?!" they both chorused.

Kagome pitied them, she really did. These two probably spent the best part of their life on this beach trying to catch a glimpse of the one and only Inuyasha. Didn't they have lives that they should be attending to? Just for the sake of saying no, Kagome said. "No."

"What?" the two girls looked immensely put out.

"Well… I would, but I'm afraid Inuyasha's illiterate. He can't even write his own name, poor guy." Kagome sighed melodramatically for her audience.

The two girls looked even more put out, but slightly confused. "I didn't know that," the pink one said.

"Oh yes. When he should have been learning the basics of the alphabet, he was out marketing perfume. And he was too busy being famous and flouncing down the catwalk when he should have been learning his multiplications." Kagome told them. "Inuyasha is… retarded."

"How do you know?" the girl in purple asked suspiciously.

"Well I asked for his autograph for my little brother but the poor dear's eyes just glazed over… quite saddening really." Kagome sighed in a depressing sort of manner.

While the two girls bickered and chattered away at each other after learning this shocking truth about their favourite superstar, Kagome took the opportunity to finally give in to the dog's impatient tugging and trotted after her as they headed towards the rockery further up the beach.

Now, Kagome wondered how far that rumour would go into the public domain…

With a glance at her watch she frowned. It was getting close to three o'clock and she knew that she had to get Bess back by then or risk Kikyo throwing her wrath on Miroku and Sango. No way was she going to make others take the flack for something she was responsible for. So Kagome gave the leash a small tug. "Come on Bess, lets go back."

Bess ignored her in favour of dragging them further away from the crowds and towards the bare, jagged looking rocks that protruded from the sand and cliffs up ahead. Kagome eyed them warily. "I don't think it's such a good idea going over there… looks dangerous to me." She tried pulling harder on the leash.

Bess' growl was ferocious. In fact it was so viscous that Kagome shut up quickly and followed meekly after the small dog. "Ok… a few more minutes…" Then they'd have to leg it back.

They pottered around the rocks for a while after that. Kagome kept her eyes on her watch, trying to subtly hint to the dog that they were running out of time, but got nowhere. Bess kept tracking that allusive scent which Kagome reckoned was probably some dead fish that she would probably eat and then get food poisoning from and then someone would blame her for killing one of the security dogs…

Perhaps that was getting too far ahead of herself.

Then all of a sudden Bess stopped and Kagome looked up at her. The smallish German Shepherd was looking off towards the cliff face looking very alert and stiff. A faint growl was rumbling in her chest. Kagome frowned and followed her attention wondering if she'd found that wonderful smell yet. She saw what the dog was looking at and gazed at it a moment in complete confusion before it began to sink in…

For a split second she thought she was looking at a dead body.

Then she realised it was Inuyasha.

In her shock she released the leash without a second thought and dashed forward as fast as she could over the uneven rocks, desperately trying to make it to him without falling and breaking her neck. She slipped over some slimy algae a few times and grazed the backs of her thighs, but her injuries didn't even slow her down as she stumbled to a halt beside Inuyasha and all but fell on top of him.

"Inuyasha?!" she reached out to shake his shoulders, but he basic medical training from school stopped her. If he had broken something then she didn't want to make it worse. At least she was pretty certain he was alive, if only unconscious. His breathing was audible, laboured and shallow. His chest moved so slowly that she half expected it to stop at any moment.

"Oh god… oh god…" This was bad trouble. She found herself hoping that this was a regular occurrence around the villa so that finding him in this state on the beach wasn't that much of a big deal… she prayed it wasn't serious.

Kagome automatically checked his pulse, hoping that she was looking in the right place. She felt it beat a rhythm beneath her fingertips… slow and feeble.

Something odd was going on… but Kagome knew when someone was in trouble. He may have been pig-headed jerk but he still needed help.

"Bess!" she looked around at the dog that was sniffing around the algae. She looked up at Kagome when her name was called. "Go get help! Go get Miroku or Sango! Get Kikyo!"

Bess took one look at the villa before dashing off towards the sea barking like a puppy. Something about her told Kagome that Bess was not a lassie dog. She was going to have to get help herself, and that meant she was going to have to leave Inuyasha where he was.

"Inuyasha?" she prodded his shoulder as hard as she dared. "Listen… you just stay here and try not to… move…"

Might as well had talked to the cliff for all the response she got. Kagome stood precariously and chewed her lip as she looked down at him, wondering if it was the right thing to do. But the longer she hesitated the more danger he would be in, so without a backward glance she clambered her way back towards the sand and pegged it for the gate she'd come through. Now that she didn't have Bess leading her around in circles she made it there in record time.

"Hey!" she called to the guard as she neared the gate. "You gotta help me – it's Inuyasha – I've found him and – ow!"

She'd grabbed the electric fence. She released it just as quickly, but her hair still stood on end. "Dammit…" she rubbed her tingling face. It was a moment before she realised that the guard was hanging onto her every word and that she had a mission. "Oh – you have to go get help! I found Inuyasha by the rocks, he's unconscious but I don't know what's wrong with him – hurry!"

"Right." The guard took off up the stairs to go get back-up while Kagome ran off back to where she'd left Inuyasha, desperately trying to shake off the left-over zinging feeling from touching the fence.

Inuyasha was still right where she'd last seen him, she was almost certain that he'd rolled over during her absence but he was still dead to the world but now with a pulse that seemed to race past a hundred and thirty a minute – she timed it.

"Damn…"she shifted uneasily on her knees, unsure what to do with him until help came. "What did you get yourself into this time?"

What had happened last night?

The dark haired phantom she'd thought she'd seen last night must have been just a dream, for Inuyasha still had hair as white as any other day. But he looked unusually pale and sallow. Bluish purple bruises were forming on random parts of his exposed skin… but they were strange bruises, like they'd formed without him actually being hit at all. There was no damage… just smooth bruises.

Not only was that strange but his lips were tinged blue like he was getting hypothermia, but when she checked his temperature he was just as warm as she was. 

Kagome fought the urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake him to demand what the hell had happened to him. It wouldn't be very nice of her and despite how much she hated him, she wasn't cruel. She settled for a more gentle approach. "What's wrong with you…?" she worried her bottom lip between her teeth as she leant over him and touched her hands gently to his chest, wincing as she felt how retched his breathing was through her touch. 

She moved her hands up to his cheeks, once more trying to tell if he was too cold, but his warmth belied the blue tinge to his lips and nails. She carried on up until she reached his eyes, propping one open for a moment to take a look.

His eyes were unfocused, dilated to mere tiny slits, looking even more catty than ever. She let go of him quickly and leant back, even more puzzled. She tried gently shaking his arm to rouse him, but that still didn't seem to work.

Then her salvation arrived.

"Kagome!"

Kagome glanced up to see Miroku and Sango charging across the beach towards her, sans the many dogs that had been accompanying them last time she'd seen them. Behind those two came Kikyo at a slightly more patient jog – but at least she'd lost the heels to be able to move faster.

"He's over here – quickly!" Kagome called back and stood up to make room for the trio. Only now she was beginning to feel the sting of the grazes on the back of her legs.

When Miroku dropped to his knees beside Inuyasha, he was slightly less cautious than Kagome. He grabbed the star by the shoulders and shook him so roughly Kagome wondered if Inuyasha would suffer some serious brain damage from having it rattled so much. "Inuyasha – Inuyasha!" he shouted in his face, but when he got no response he dropped him back down on the sand covered rock. Sango ushered him out of the to begin checking his vitals – his pulse and his breathing. Whilst she was doing this Kikyo arrived.

The agent took one look at Inuyasha, assessed the situation and immediately gave a weary sigh. "Not again… I swear if we have to…" she noticed Kagome standing off to the side and trailed off what she had been saying.

Kagome had that feeling that she was just the child amongst the grown-ups who didn't want to discuss grown-up matters before her. It irritated her slightly, considering she hadn't a clue what was going on.

"Is he ok?" She asked Miroku as Sango checked Inuyasha's temperature. "I mean, he'll be alright won't he?"

"Oh he'll be fine. He's a Hanyou. He can't o-"

"Let's get him back." Kikyo interrupted shortly with a meaningful look at Miroku who was effectively silenced.

That nasty feeling that she was being kept in the dark began to surface bitterly again. "What's the matter with him?" Kagome asked a little more forcefully.

"He's just a little sick. He'll be ok, though, don't you worry." Sango told her, but it seemed a little hypocritical seeing as Kagome had never seen her looking so stressed and worried during the short time she'd known her – and Sango had shown her many variations of stress and worry so far.

Miroku bent down and hefted Inuyasha up by the shoulders while Sango took his feet. He looked up at Kikyo as they lifted. "You better go catch Bess before those kids decide to take her home with them." He nodded off down the beach. "And if you can cause a distraction so we can move him."

Great… she was a diversion…

Well, it didn't look as if they were going to let her take any more care of their precious Inuyasha, so she knew the best way to help any way she could was to obey. She set off down the beach after the renegade German Shepherd with only a few cautious looks back at Inuyasha.

"Bess!" She called after the dog.

Luckily the bitch was trained enough to recognise her own name and came bounding giddily towards Kagome from where she'd been playing with a group of children near the surf. Kagome hated to ruin their fun, but in a moment she was about to ruin everyone's fun.

As soon as she had Bess' leash firmly in her hand and took a deep breath and gave it her all. "TIDAL WAVE! THERE'S A TIDAL WAVE HEADING RIGHT FOR THE BEACH! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!"

People sat up on their towels and pushed down their sunglasses to regard the crazy shouting girl with the dog. But at least she had everyone's attention. Some distant music that had been playing off to her right came to a stop and Kagome felt everyone's eyes on her.

It was strange that she felt even more nervous right now than she had done in the press room when not just a beach of people had watched her but the whole country instead. It was strange how nerves tackled you…

"You heard me!" she yelled. "The coastguard just announced the biggest typhoon for ten years will be here in TEN MINUTES!! RUN WHILE YOU STILL CAN!"

Well it didn't work in movies for no reason at all. Perhaps they hadn't heard her the first time, but they definitely got the message load and clear the second time. There were various shouts, then a few screams and then there was wide-spread hysteria. All in the space of fifteen seconds everyone was running for the exit, away from where Inuyasha was being dragged limply towards the electric gate. No one saw a thing…

Kagome hurried to catch up with them. And as they all passed through the gate Miroku gave her a wink. "Nice job."

Kikyo put a hand on Kagome's shoulder and waved to Sango and Miroku. "Take him up to bed and call Kaede, tell her… tell her the problem and she'll sort him out, I'll catch up with you in a bit."

Kagome realised that she was about to have a talk to Kikyo. And well… Kikyo was a bit of a scary kind of person and Kagome naturally felt a little a bit nervous. So it surprised her when Kikyo took her up the stairs and drew her off to the side of the pool and gave her the softest, kindest smile she'd probably ever given anyone in her life. It made her look very lovely, and Kagome's rattled nerves began to calm slightly as she realised she wasn't going to be chewed out or forced into signing some contract of silence. She fiddled with Bess' leash anxiously.

"I want to thank you, Kagome," Kikyo told her seriously. "No one goes down by those rocks… if you hadn't gone there today we might not have found him in time."

"What's the matter with him?" Kagome asked. Would Kikyo tell her now that they were alone?

"He's just sick. He'll get better." Kikyo suddenly looked strained. "Damn… that fight's tomorrow as well…"

"Does this have something to do with the new moon?" Kagome asked.

"In a way."

"Does this happen every time?"

"Not usually…"

"But it has happened?"

Kikyo waved a hand vaguely. "Once or twice. He'll be fine, Kagome, don't worry about him."

"It's hard not to though…" Not when he looked like that. "He looked like he was in a coma."

"Mm. Well." Kikyo gave her a strange look before taking Bess' leash from her hand and started walking towards the back entrance to the villa with the dog. "If you want you can get something to eat from the kitchens. Tell cook that I said you could have anything you want – my special thanks for saving his life."

A better way to thank her would be to tell her the truth. Kagome watched her suspiciously as she vanished back inside the villa. She hesitated by the poolside, vaguely aware of the backs of her thighs beginning to sting; the sand had gotten into the cuts by now.

Maybe Kagome would have to find some answers out for herself…?

She looked up to Inuyasha's balcony and noticed that his glass doors were open… an idea popped into her head and she quickly raced to follow through with it.

Kagome hurried back inside and made her way rapidly up the stairs (the elevator seemed too slow for her) and raced to her own room. She swiped the card through the lock on the door and zipped inside. Instantly she was out on her own balcony and straining for any hint of conversation that was going on in the room above.

Someone must have been pleased with her work today (or was just taking pity on her) because she heard voices, loud and clear.

"You'd think he would have some sense… the moron…" Sango was saying heatedly. Her voice was further than the others meaning she was probably by the bed.

Miroku spoke the clearest, possibly because he was by the window. "Give him a break, he nearly died." Kagome agreed with him. Perhaps they should cut him a little slack…?

"_And _he has the fight against Kouga tomorrow. He can't fight now." Kikyo's voice was cold and angry.

"But he'll be better by tomorrow." Miroku reasoned. 

"Oh yes, sure he'll be fighting fit but what happens when they demand the drugs test?" Kikyo snapped. "What are we supposed to do when they come up positive?"

Kagome shrank back into her room slightly. Drugs…? This was out of her experience…

"Maybe it will be out of his system by tomorrow." Miroku still seemed to be defending Inuyasha.

"Heroin doesn't fade over night."

Kagome's eyes widened in shock. _Heroin?!_

Kikyo's voice seemed more distant like she'd marched over to the bed. "Out with it – how much did you take this time?"

__

This time?!

Kikyo sighed loudly when she didn't get the response she wanted. "We'll have to pull him. Forfeit the championship. Lose our sponsorship from Addidas. I hope you're happy now? I bet you didn't think of all these consequences last night did you?"

"Oh cut him a break, Kikyo, the idiots overdosed. I won't be surprised if he stops breathing in a minute." Miroku said in a way that indicated he was just as angry at Inuyasha as the others were.

"He's a Hanyou – he can't overdose!" Kikyo snapped.

"Yeah, but last night he was human." Sango said evenly.

There was a long silence in the room above as everyone contemplated this. Kagome's thoughts whirled as she tried to catch up with what was going on. Inuyasha had overdosed? And he'd been human the previous night? Then perhaps the shadow she'd seen dropped down from her balcony hadn't been a dream at all.

Kikyo's next words grounded Kagome slightly. "Did you try to kill yourself?"

Another long stretch of silence followed as Kagome waited with baited breath… but she couldn't hear any response Inuyasha was making, if he _was _making any. Kagome had the feeling he was still unconscious and Kikyo might as well have been questioning the lamp.

"Maybe it was an accident." Miroku tried diplomatically.

"Whatever it was…" Kikyo began slowly. "If Kagome hadn't found him he'd be _dead_. Kaede better arrive soon for that matter. Did you tell her to bring some medication?"

"She's bringing the charcoal pills." Sango told her.

"Good… call me if there are any changes in his condition. Keep watch on him and don't let Kagome near here. The last thing we need is her finding out about this." Kikyo's footsteps retreated. "This has got to stop…"

The bedroom door slammed somewhere above her and Kagome sat down slowly on the cold stone floor of the balcony, processing what she'd heard. It was a minute before she heard any more dialogue upstairs.

"Close the window, Miroku, best keep the draft out."

There was a click above her and Kagome found herself sitting in tranquil silence again. There was no one on the beach now, making it eerily quiet and with all the soundproof walls in the building, the rest of household might as well have been tiptoeing around for all the noise they made.

Kagome felt horrible. She felt betrayed and revolted that Inuyasha was capable of such things. She was angry at him… she'd probably never hated anyone as much as she hated the guy ill in the room above her. Not only because what he'd done was horrific… but because he'd made her feel a fool.

Kagome had never felt very naïve and innocent. But right then she felt incredibly ignorant, as well as blind and stupid.

She'd never even considered something like this could happen… drug abuse was something that had always been in a different world from her. But now Inuyasha had forced it to collide with her humble life and she felt sickened by it.

Kagome just wanted to go home and have nothing more to do with anyone here at the villa ever again.

AN: Dun, dun, dun… there you go – the most serious real-life issue I will probably ever cover in my stories (apart from the one in Father Figure). 


	7. Why I Did What I Did

****

Author's Notes: Back from my hols where the weather was fantastic and warm and now I'm back in Manchester when it turns dark at five o'clock in the afternoon and all the leaves are on the ground. Have I mentioned that it is also bitterly cold out there? Anyway, I really enjoyed myself and I'm relaxed and refreshed and ready to get back on with the story. 

So a lot of people ask me where I get my ideas from – and this is the first story where I can probably remember where _exactly _I got my inspiration.

Watching MTV I saw a competition for people to go spend a weekend with Justin Timberlake and me, being the cynical cow that I am, scoffed and pointed out quite loudly that the last thing Justin Timberlake wants to do is spend two days with some irritating fan who'll probably just squeal and cry the entire time. I don't like Justin Timberlake. So what if _I _won? Hence… you can see where I got the original idea from and naturally to make it stand apart from your average superstar fic I wanted a darker tone, which comes from a more personal experience with a very old friend of mine who I vowed to marry when I was five or six years old. He's into heavy drugs like E and Heroin and as you can imagine I was very disappointed and sad for him (thank god he doesn't plan to hold me to that vow of marriage). But thanks to him he's taught me a lot about drugs that I probably wouldn't know about unless I actually did it myself and got first hand experience. Luckily I'm not desperate enough to do _that_ much research for this story ^_^;;

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 7

Why I Did What I Did

"We are too good a group of specialists to let this happen! From now on _nothing _must slip through our perfectly woven net!"

The group of fourteen stared at Kikyo, non-plussed. As they were all rather more trusted members of the Inuyasha entourage, it was going to be them taking the blame for Inuyasha and taking the wrath of Kikyo. Sango and Miroku exchanged glances from where they sat beside each other at the back of the group.

"We know from experience," Kikyo went on, pacing as she spoke. "That Inuyasha likes to pull stunts like this on new moon nights – so why hasn't anyone stepped up the security on those particular nights when there is no moon to be seen?"

No one offered an explanation.

"Now Inuyasha is… very ill." Sugar-coating it of course. "He may have died. We are too good to allow this to happen!"

Miroku's hand shot up. "Question!"

Kikyo turned narrowed eyes on him slowly. She sighed deeply, only because she knew Miroku was always the first to be a nuisance. "What is it?"

"Are you saying that the laws of cause and effect do not apply in this situation?" he asked seriously. "Logically if we were good at our jobs then we would be too good to allow this to happen?" Kikyo shifted her weight to the other foot and folded her arms with growing annoyance. Sango stared at Miroku, trying to tell him to shut up telepathically. "So therefore is it not more likely that we are all pathetic losers who are getting what we deserve?" Miroku finished with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, individually, you are all losers." Kikyo nodded as the group exchanged more strange looks. "But together as a group we should be the best! Thanks to my unwavering leadership skills and my motivational talks we are a great group."

Sango sank down into her seat. "I'd squirm but I just don't feel motivated enough." She whispered to Miroku who snickered under his breath. 

~*~

There was an angry looking girl marching down the stairs when Kaede entered the villa. She looked an awful lot like Kikyo but somehow Kaede doubted they were related. Kikyo was far too cool and controlled while this girl was hot and lively and right then she looked positively volatile. The girl stepped purposefully around Kaede and headed outside, disappearing from view with a permanent black marker in her hand. Kaede shrugged with her ancient shoulders and continued on to the elevator to head up to the top floor. She knew that was where Inuyasha's room was, and even after so many years she doubted that he would switch. He'd had that room since he was eleven. He'd moved into it after the crash because it was the smallest and darkest in the entire villa… somehow Kaede reckoned her would still be there. Room number 66 (with an extra 6 scrawled beside the room number in fresh permanent marker ink, now when had that appeared there?).

Kaede didn't bother knocking, she just barged her way into the room and at once took a quick sweep of the interior.

Nothing had changed. Except that maybe the boy in the bed was quite a few years older and a few stones heavier than before. For all appearances he looked like he was sleeping.

First thing was first and Kaede stomped her way to the windows and drew back the drapes to allow some light into the room and threw open the balcony door while she was at it to allow some fresh air inside.

"They didn't tell me they'd invited the witch of the west back," Inuyasha began in a slightly slurred tone. His voice sounded strange even to Kaede's old ears. She turned to look back at the bed and saw that he still hadn't moved or opened his eyes.

"Well they couldn't call a real doctor, could they?" Kaede set the bag down carefully on one of the chairs beside the bed and sat down in the other. "So which was it? Insufflated? Syringe? Smoke?"

Inuyasha lazily rolled away from her. "Haven't you got some flying monkeys to send after Dorothy…?"

Kaede shook her head as she looked at him pitifully. "God you look a sight… Covered in bruises. And aren't you supposed to have a fight with Kouga tomorrow?"

"Maybe…"

Kaede stood up as fast as her old bones would allow and reached over to grab his prone arms, checking for puncture wounds. "No syringe… good. You can take these then." Before he had a chance to object she shoved three charcoal pills into his mouth and clamped his mouth shut with her wrinkled hand. "Swallow."

He made a tutting sound and gave her a slow irritable scowl, obviously annoyed that she was making him work, but he swallowed all the same and she could sit back down again. "Good boy."

Inuyasha just closed his eyes and seemed to go to sleep, but Kaede knew better.

"So I heard you were human last night." She swivelled one of the silver rings around her fingers. "An overdose last night would have killed you. Did you know that?" He ignored her in favour of resting peacefully. "So you were either trying to kill yourself or you knew that your Hanyou blood would save you in the nick of time." Kaede raised her chin. "Which was it then?"

"Don't remember…" he slurred again with a faint sigh.

He was practically still high and Kaede knew that talking to him in this state was pointless. She wouldn't get anything useful out of him. "I see Miroku still lives here." He'd been living there since Kaede first remembered. The boy had come with his father who had previously worked for Kaede's former brother and Inuyasha's former father. Even though the boy's father had left, the boy still remained here with Inuyasha. Kaede put it down to an odd friendship… though she had always wondered what anyone saw in the Hanyou.

"Who's the girl who looks like Kikyo?" Kaede asked.

"Oh her?" Inuyasha forced his eyes open for a moment before giving in and closing them again. "She just came from somewhere… a Shrine I think."

"She hates you."

"Never mind."

Kaede watched him for a moment before finally shaking her head wearily and getting to her feet. "I was hoping you'd grow up once you had to take care of yourself. But I see you've done a _fine _job taking care of yourself, Inuyasha."

"That's nice." He sighed.

"I'll be here till tomorrow and then I'll be going home again. You should sleep off the effects by tomorrow morning I reckon."

"Mm hm."

"Fool." Kaede left one last parting sentiment before taking her bag and walking out of the room. "You'll be feeling _that _when you wake up tomorrow."

But Inuyasha, being a Hanyou, liked to defy the rules of when he was supposed to wake up. Instead of attempting to sleep off the affects of the drugs overnight, he woke up somewhere towards seven o'clock, either from the pounding headache that was banging inside his skull, or from the presence of the girl sitting in the chair beside his bed.

"Your rooms sucks you know."

He opened his eyes slightly, before wincing them shut again. The light was too strong, even for him. "Go away."

Even with his eyes closed he could almost feel a fierce stir of aura from her. She didn't like his attitude? Well tough, he didn't like her so she could just get lost and leave him to die in peace. He really wanted to be unconscious right then…

"You know…" She went on again, obviously speaking in a tightly controlled voice that belied her anger. "Seeing you like this really puts it in perspective for me." He heard her shift in the chair and opened his eyes to track her movement, only to find her leaning forward towards him. Her features were blurred and the light was too strong to see well. "In reality you're nothing but a glorified junkie that struck lucky and got rich while the rest of your kind wallows in the sewers of society."

Strong… complex words for such a little girl. He didn't understand half of what she was on about right then. "Shut up and go away. And turn the light off as you leave." He said callously.

"The light isn't on, you big muppet." She snapped, but got up anyway and marched to the window to pull the curtains together. She sat back down straight away and flexed her fingers agitatedly against the armrests of her chair. "So are you going to tell me why you tried to kill yourself?"

"Is it really any of your business?" A small tingle of cold shock ran through him. Had he tried to commit suicide? He really didn't remember much of previous twenty-four hours. He doubted he'd even remember this conversation in a few minutes.

"I'm not going to go around and tell everyone that you do drugs." She started off again, in a slightly rushed, shaky voice. No matter how he tried to ignore her, he could tell how tense she was. Her movements were stiff and jerky as fidgeted in the chair. "I mean, this is exactly the kind of thing I expected from you. Sex, drugs and rock n' roll is all what being famous is about, right? I wasn't surprised, but I'm not going to go blab it around to the press."

She was a girl on the edge, and Inuyasha didn't trust that type of girl. He lazily tried to eye her again but gave up when it only made his head hurt even more. He groaned slightly and tried to disappear into the mattress. "Just leave me to die, you know you want to…"

Suddenly she snapped upright like a whip and turned on him angrily. "But I should you know!" she berated him in a louder voice. "It would serve you right! You are the last person on this planet that deserves _this _much luxury! You did nothing to deserve it – you've just sponged off the sympathy of others and had your own way since you were born! You deserve to be ruined!"

"Why are you so angry, Komodo, if you knew this was the person I was?" he replied with a half-hearted shrug. "This is who I am, and it's none of your business what I should and shouldn't do. You can push off and take your moralities to someone who gives a shit."

She clenched her fists, on the brink of tears. "Damn you!" she yelled. "How could you do this?! Everyone looks up to you and follow you with adoration thinking you are wonderful when in fact you are down there with the trash in the gutters! My _brother _looks up to you! What am I supposed to tell him when I go home?! Am I supposed to lie to him when he asks me what you are like? I can't do that! And my name is _not _Komodo!"

"You stress too much." He sighed lightly.

"And you take everything for granted! Why, why, _why _would you want to kill yourself?! Is your life _that _bad?!" she demanded furiously. "You have servants for crying out loud – you have a hundred fan clubs and a whole entourage at your beck and call! You have a swimming pool! You have a hundred cars in the garage – even though you haven't got a license yet and you have a personal jet to take you wherever you want whenever you want! Why are you so unhappy with what you have that you'd consider suicide? That's just insane."

He didn't know, he just didn't have a clue. He couldn't remember what had happened and the way she was talking to him was evoking some powerful emotion in him that he was pretty sure wasn't anger… but some rather intense kind of misery.

She just regarded him with an angry pity. "You're disgusting." She said in a wavering voice and marched over to sit down in the chair beside his bed again, her eyes brimming with tears despite her obvious effort to hold them back.

Why was she crying for him?

"Stop that." He said a little more _gently _than he wanted to sound. "You don't even know what you're sad about."

"I'm sad about you." She said curtly. "If you carry on like this then you're going to find yourself in an early grave. Thank god your parents are dead because this would have killed them."

That should have made him angry, for her to talk like that about his mother and father, but right then he was still feeling a little loose and relaxed. Perhaps in retrospect a little too loose-lipped. "And if they were still alive, what would they do? Spank me? They were always too absorbed in their own little world of _fame _and _fortune_ that they wouldn't notice anything beyond it. Not even a six year old kid."

Kagome's brow lowered slightly in a frown. He spat the words fame and fortune with a bitter contempt that surprised her. She realised right then how a child would grow up with famous parents. Fame was a demanding occupation, it took up all of your time and attention. Kagome tried to imagine if she would be neglected if her own mother had been famous… but her mother had always been so devoted and loving that she couldn't even see it in her wildest dreams. But not everyone's parents were the same, and she doubted that Inuyasha's mother was anything like her own.

"A six year old kid?" she repeated after him, picking up a hint of what he'd said that she'd almost missed. "In 1992 you would have been six…"

"You're very clever, you know." He told her, almost sincerely. "It'll get you into trouble one day."

"Inuyasha… what happened in that year?"

He didn't answer. He just lay very still and Kagome had the feeling that he was pretending to be dead so that she'd go away. Then suddenly he snapped, making her start. "You're just a little pest who will be gone by Saturday – I don't owe you any explanations or excuses and I certainly don't need your guilt trip!"

"I'm trying to help you!" she sat up sharply and crashed her fists against the armrests. "Just tell me why you do this – this – _insane _destructive behaviour and I'll go away! Is it because you're depressed or – or is it because you're really just a bad person who would do this just because you can get away with it right under everyone's nose?"

A surly remark was just lying on his tongue, waiting to be said. _He'd done it because he could_. That was what he wanted to say… but he knew it wasn't true. He didn't remember what had happened and he didn't remember just why he'd done it… but he had a good idea about it. But he would rather stick pins in his own eyeballs than talk to her about it.

It was none of her business.

The silence was becoming unbearable as she stared at him, waiting for her answer.

Inuyasha wasn't going to give it to her. "Go away." He said acidly as he slumped back down in his bed, pulling the covers over his head and turning his back on her.

"What happened in 1992?" she asked evenly.

Shattering flickers of memory passed through his mind's eye and he squeezed his real eyes shut tighter in an effort to avoid them. "Mind your own business!" he ground out.

"Why won't you talk to me?"

"Because I don't know you!" he sat up abruptly to face her. "You don't waltz in here after two days of hating me and expect me to bear my soul to you – get real and get _out_!" he jabbed a finger at the door.

"You don't know me because you don't make any effort to get to know anyone!" she snapped back, ignoring his not so subtle hint for her to leave. "You're so busy lording it over us that you take each and every one of us for granted! You don't bother learning anyone's name and you don't care enough about other people – and you obviously don't care for yourself."

"That's not true!" he glared at her.

"Oh yeah? Then what's my name?" she folded her arms severely.

For a moment he thought he would be able to remember, but as he looked at her he couldn't match the face to the number of names floating around him day in day out. "If I got your name right perhaps you'd start getting delusions that I actually cared about what your name was." He said instead. "You're interesting, but you're not _that _interesting, girl."

"I don't think I've actually ever hated anyone before." She told him. "I was expecting to dislike you if I ever met you, but you've really proved me wrong. You… opened my eyes to the _real _world."

"Save your preaching for someone who cares." He grumbled and sank onto the bed again.

"Right, and that's obviously not you." She got up with a huff and stomped towards the door. He winced as it slammed in her wake and immediately tried to put the encounter out of his mind.

For the first time in his life he felt like a pig for upsetting her…

But why?

~*~

"Sango – come help me interview the new candidate for the entourage." Miroku stopped at the doorway to her study where said girl was eating dinner. "I think she's terrific."

"Uh oh…" Sango rolled her eyes as she dropped her sandwich back onto the plate and followed him out of her study and down the corridor to the brief room. The moment he'd said 'she' Sango knew to be on red-alert. So she wasn't surprised when she entered the room to find a busty looking blonde sitting in the interviewee chair.

The girl look positively clueless and Sango slid an incredulous look to Miroku who was grinning from ear to ear. _Oh boy_… she thought as she sat down in a chair next to him and picked up the girls résumé.

"I have to warn you that we only accept the best of best to be members of the entourage." Sango warned the girl as she began to read.

"You'll be pleasantly surprised." Miroku told her.

"And I hope _you _realise that Inuyasha gets primary dibs on the new girl." She directed at Miroku. "You'd have to get in line for your turn."

"Turn for what?" the blonde asked in an annoyingly spaced, valley girl voice.

"Never mind." Sango smiled at her before carrying on reading. She read a paragraph that made her eyebrows shoot up. "It says here you invented e-bay, Naoko."

"Wow!" Miroku had yet to tear his eyes off of the blonde. "I'm going to hire her right now!"

"Hang on a moment." Sango put her hand out to steady him. "Naoko… you didn't really invent e-bay, did you?"

"Well…" Naoko shuffled self-consciously now that she was in the spotlight, "Maybe I was… part of the uh… um team that invented it."

Sango glared at her, brandishing the résumé. "No one invented e-bay!"

"When can you start?" Miroku asked.

"Why am I even here?" Sango snapped at him. "Obviously this girl is lying through her teeth and…" she forgot what she was about to go say when she saw Kagome shoot past the door looking angry. An angry Kagome meant an unhappy guest and that had to be fixed. "Um…" she dropped the résumé back onto the table and stood. "I'll be back in a while, don't do anything you would normally do."

With that little warning left hanging in the air she quickly jogged out of the room and hurried to catch up with Kagome. She lost the younger girl's trail at a junction in the corridor, but the moment she heard the pool side doors flip shut she knew where to head.

She spotted Kagome sitting down by the edge of the pool, dangling her bare feet in the water. She appeared to be crying. Sango came down the steps slowly, but deliberately loud enough for Kagome to hear her approach. "Kagome…?"

"I'm ok," Kagome called back in a choked kind of voice. "I'm just tired."

Sango came to sit down beside her, but kept her feet on the edge of the pool to avoid getting her shoes wet. "You're crying."

"I'm just tired." She repeated herself.

Sango narrowed her eyes. "Inuyasha upset you didn't he. I swear to god if he-"

"No, that's not the problem." Kagome drew her knees up to bury her face. "It's all just building up I guess. I miss my family and friends. I know it's stupid, I've only been here a few days. But Inuyasha getting overdosed and nearly dying on the beach – I nearly found a dead body! And I've run out of plasters to put on my legs and the sand is stinging the cuts and-"

"What made you think Inuyasha overdosed?" Sango said in what she hoped sounded innocently shocked at a false accusation. She came off as sounding guilty.

"I overheard… I'm sorry." Kagome sniffed and lifted her head with a frown. "Why would he do something like that?"

"Inuyasha is…" Sango struggled for the terminology. "I guess he's depressed."

"Why?" Kagome turned the frown on her. "What has he got to be depressed about?"

Sango considered telling her… but decided that she wanted to keep her job more than shed light on Kagome. "It's a superstar thing…"

"Does he always try to commit suicide?"

Now Sango's shock was genuine. "Oh no! Never! He may be a stupid jerk but he's not that stupid." Sango set down her clipboard. "I mean… there was that one time back in… that scared us all a bit I think. It scared Inuyasha as well, I don't think he particularly wanted to kill himself after that. But that time he didn't use drugs to do it for him… he's usually so careful… he's only overdosed two or three times."

"He's only ever done it two or three times?" Kagome asked incredulously.

"Mm hm." She nodded. "Both times couldn't remember how it happened. Sometimes I don't think he even does it deliberately. And it's not like an overdose can really harm him… he's not like your average human… but then again, when he _is _human like last night it can be dangerous. I reckon it was an attempt to piss Kikyo off."

"A bit extreme…"

"Well he's like that." Sango smiled before quickly sobering. "But please don't tell anyone about this otherwise we all lose our jobs if Inuyasha goes down."

Kagome hadn't planned on doing such a thing, but now that she realised people like Miroku and Sango would suffer if the truth got out, she resolved herself firmly to keep her mouth shut on the matter. "It won't ever go beyond me." She said honestly to Sango.

"That's good to hear."

Kagome looked out across the gently rippling surface of the pool. "Don't you worry about him though?"

Sango snorted. "I think we all do. He's really too thick to take proper care of-"

"Ahem!"

Both girls jerked around guiltily, Kagome was so startled that she almost toppled into the swimming pool. Inuyasha was stood only a metre behind them wearing his loose dressing gown and looking very ill (if not a little peeved).

Sango got over her surprise quickly as she jumped angrily to her feet. "What are you doing out of bed?" she demanded. "You're supposed to be resting."

"I'm a Hanyou." He answered as if it was answer to all the questions of the universe.

"You still look half-dead – go back to bed." Sango folded her arms.

Inuyasha gave her a long look. "No." he said deliberately. "Get back to work, Sango."

She glared at him for a moment before giving a sigh. "Well, I tried." She picked up her clipboard from the paving stones rimming the pool and started back towards the building, only sending one curious look back over her shoulder at the two she was leaving behind.

Inuyasha waited until she was gone before moving to sit down beside Kagome. She mentally groaned and rolled her eyes as she pointedly turned her head away and shuffled a few inches to the side to put distance between them. _Please dear god don't try and cheer me up_…

"It's not like I've mixed you up in this you know." He told her, immediately defensive before the conversation even got going.

"I know." She answered coldly. But in truth she couldn't help feel that she'd been mixed up somehow…

"Personally it's none of your business anyway. I mean… you'll be gone at the end of the week and we'll never have to see each other again." He went on.

"I know that." She said in a lower voice, wishing he would just go away.

"But you don't know what it's like-"

"Of course I do!" she snapped. "You have everything you want and everything's so safe for you, financially and otherwise that you do stupid self-destructive things to feel alive. I've seen those films you know."

"That's a load of bullshit." He said flatly. "Have you ever been famous?"

"Not until last Saturday." She said, a little miffed.

"Then you have no idea what it's like to be watched throughout your entire life. I'm not perfect – I'm willing to admit that much. I have a temper and I make mistakes… but people don't want their idols to be imperfect. They want someone good for their children to look up to – if I allowed myself to act naturally in public then my career would be shot down in a second."

There was a possibility of truth in what he said, and Kagome listened sullenly as she negotiated with herself to not interrupt and insult him again.

"I've been pretending to be someone perfect for so long that I'm not entirely sure what I'm really supposed to be like. Have you ever had an identity crisis?" he glanced over at her and Kagome looked back at him uncertainly.

"I'm pretty sure I know myself."

"Well then you have something I don't." he shrugged. "I've been having trouble figuring out what I want and who I am for the last eleven years. My image is perfect… he has no flaws and no imperfections of any kind. When I'm alone… or when I'm human and I'm not _him _I wonder what I was supposed to turn out like. I know the real me is imperfect… so would he touch heroin?"

Kagome watched him lapse into silence. He was frowning slightly, but in a slightly nauseous way since he was clutching his stomach slightly. Some of that anger and disappointment in him faded… it was still there but now she just pitied him as well. "Are you saying you overdosed so you could be more like your real self?"

"That was a mistake… don't think that was intentional…"

She stared at him. "Do you know who you are yet?" she felt stupid asking that question. As if taking heroin could ever be considered a journey of self-discovery. 

"Not even close." He scratched his bruised arm. "I still feel all over the place."

Perhaps seventeen years of fame had done more damage to a growing child than she'd realised. Timidly, she reached her hand up and rested it on his shoulder in the only comforting gesture she was willing to give him. He didn't seem to notice the contact as he stared at the water in front of them.

"You say you've been like that for eleven years," she said gently. "Since 1992?"

"Sounds about right," he said quietly, still staring at the water.

Perhaps it was pushing her luck slightly, but she had to know. "Sango hinted something…"

Inuyasha was silent.

"That… you may have tried to commit suicide that year…" Kagome said quietly.

He glanced at her quickly, but not out of shock that she knew the truth, but confusion because she'd got it wrong. Kagome realised in an instant her mistake. "You didn't?"

"Not in 1992…" he shook his head slightly. "When I was eleven I tried doing that. Went out across that pier the day after I was told my parents died," he pointed to the long wooden pier that stretched out into the sea from the beach below. "Tied a bloody rock to my feet and jumped in."

"Oh my god…" Kagome breathed. Half of her still couldn't believe someone would willingly want to end their life… but this was a seriously messed up kid she was dealing with.

"I reached the bottom and I was floating there, holding my breath and I thought… I thought 'breathe out now and suck in the water'. But I couldn't do it. After a moment I started going mad, kicking and flailing to get myself free when my lungs began burning. I was terrified of dying." He glanced at her. "Do you think that's cowardly?"

"I think that's normal." Kagome responded. "I wouldn't even have the guts to tie a rock to my feet on a pier."

"It was weird… _I _chose death… but my will chose to live." He stared off into space again.

"Would you try again now?" Kagome asked, hoping she got a safe answer.

"No." he chirped too brightly for their current topic of conversation. Nevertheless Kagome could breathe a small sigh of relief. "Last night was an accident, I know that even if I don't remember what I did."

"You know…" Kagome said in a slightly annoyed voice, lowering her hand from his shoulder. "You shouldn't do drugs."

He snorted and gave her a precocious look. "And when did you become my stand-in mother."

Kagome felt her cheeks heat slightly, more in annoyance than embarrassment. "I'm warning you… this time you were lucky that you didn't die."

"I'll be more careful next time." Now he really sounded like he was confronting his own mother.

"There won't _be _a next time." She told him firmly.

He cocked his head at her, a stony anger beginning to form at her pushy attitude. "You're not in any position to stop me from doing whatever the hell I want." He narrowed his eyes.

"That can change." She said in an equally dangerous tone and for a moment he wondered what on earth she meant by that when all train of thought was lost.

His bedroom exploded.

AN: Ouch… I just broke a nail tapping the return button too hard…


	8. Hitchhiking

****

Author's Notes: Yeah, that was a nasty cliff hanger – but fret no more for the conclusion is here!

And by the way the 1992 incident still hasn't been explained, just to those who seem to think that the first suicide attempt was the 92 incident. Nope, that would have happened in 97. 

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 8

Hitchhiking

It took nearly a full five minutes for all the bits of plaster and wood to finish raining down around them. Kagome stared in aghast horror as flames now happily furled within the dark depths of the bedroom where she'd confronted Inuyasha barely half an hour ago. Had anyone been in there? Had anyone been caught in the explosion?

Sirens began wailing in the distance and Kagome heard a few people shouting for fire extinguishers. She turned slowly to Inuyasha who was watching pieces of his bedroom floating in the pool behind them. But he suddenly turned to her. "You did that didn't you?!" it sounded more like an accusation than a polite question.

"W-What?!" She gaped at him and pointed to he scorched and blackened balcony. "A bomb just went off in your room!"

"You put it there this morning, didn't you?!"

"Are you still high or something?! I'm fifteen years old – I don't know how to make bombs!"

"So? I knew how to make bombs when I was fifteen." Maybe now was a good time to stop talking, he decided. He promptly shut his mouth and turned to go back inside. Kagome shook her head in disbelief as she watched him pad bare-foot up the steps, making his way around the debris scattered around the area.

"This is unbelievable…" she breathed, running a hand through her hair as she gazed up at the burning bedroom.

It was only then that she realised something shocking.

Someone had just tried to kill the most famous guy in the world.

~*~

"…And we were just sitting there talking when there was this tremendous bang – I heard the windows shattering and when we looked up there were massive flames coming out of his bedroom." Kagome explained as she sipped her diet coke now and then at the island counter in the middle of the kitchen. "I nearly had a heart attack."

"Ze police found a bomb didn't zey?" Cook asked as she stirred in the cake mixture for breakfast tomorrow morning. Cook was German.

"Mm-hm." Kagome nodded. "Tucked right under where the mattress was until it was blown to smithereens. They don't know who planted it. But Inuyasha seemed to think it's me." Kagome couldn't help but sound a little put-out at that. And they'd been talking half-decently to one another as well… he just had to go and ruin it like that didn't he?

"People bomb zis place all ze time." Cook shrugged as she began divided the cake mixture up into baking tins. "Inuyasha is so popular viz ze ladies sometimes zat he makes himself unpopular viz ze men."

"Really?" Kagome blinked at her. "I thought he had this whole cross-gender appeal going for him."

"Mostly. Not alvays." Cook wrinkled her nose. "You'd be surprised how many enemies he has made over ze years."

"Not that surprised." Kagome eyed Cook's work. "Can I lick the bowl?"

"Zat is very unhealthy." Cook admonished. "But I like you." She plonked the bowl down in front of a beaming Kagome and left her to it as she began fiddling with the knobs of the economy sized oven.

"Cook?"

"Ja?"

Kagome sucked the chocolate cake mix off her finger as she figured out the best way to get the information she wanted. "You've been around for… how many years again?"

"Sixteen." Cook grabbed the oven mittens and shoved the cake mix into the heat.

"So you were here when that thing happened in 1992."

"Absolutely."

Kagome nodded slowly. "That was bad, wasn't it?" Kagome said, trying to give the impression that she already knew what she was talking about. "For Inuyasha I mean."

Cook gave her a sceptical look. "Ja, from vat I heard from ze former prime minister, it vas bad."

Kagome still didn't have enough to draw her the truth. "Yeah… Inuyasha told me all about it."

"He did?" Cook blinked at her. "Zen he must like you a lot. He didn't speak of it to anyone, not even to ze police or his parents… still von't talk."

"He didn't?" Kagome blinked right back. "Why not?"

Cook shrugged. "Traumatised I suppose…"

"By what?" it slipped out before Kagome could stop it.

"By vat?" Cook laughed. "You'd be traumatised too if it happened to you."

But _what _had happened?! Kagome tried to weasel more out. So far this middle-aged cook was the only person to have spoken about it without looking around nervously for eavesdroppers or microphones. "Yeah… I guess I would be too. What do you think you would have done if it had happened to you?"

"Viz the whole-" She imitated clutching a steering wheel with her hands and screeching round a corner with sound effects to boot. That was all the hint Kagome was given as Cook waved her oven mitten dismissively. "Nein. I would be just ze same as Inuyasha. Perhaps I scream more."

All Kagome could gather so far was that it had involved a car of some sort… another car crash perhaps? One that had killed someone else dear to Inuyasha or nearly Inuyasha himself? Kagome still wasn't sure yet, but by the way Cook went off to deal with a roast turkey, Kagome decided that the discussion was over and she would have to try elsewhere for her information.

"You'd better get ready for bed, Kagome." Cook warned her with a pointed look at the clock high up on the wall above the stove. "It's getting and you need your sleep, ja?"

"Mm. I hope the ceiling doesn't fall in on me…" she mumbled more to herself.

"Oh no…" Cook shook her head. "Ceilings are very stable. Ze bomb vas only little."

"Ok then. Goodnight!" Kagome waved cheerfully as she abandoned her licked bowl and headed back to her bedroom. She decided to save herself the walk up the stairs by taking the elevator. When the doors opened she found herself facing a rather old, hunched woman. "Oh, hello." She said, wondering why she'd never noticed this woman around the villa before.

"Ah, you must be the alleged Kagome Higurashi." The old woman rumbled.

A light-bulb went off in her head. "Are you Kaede?" When the old woman nodded, Kagome's suspicions were confirmed. This was his Aunt, sister of the former prime minister and the woman who had abandoned her duty as guardian of a very disturbed child. Though Kagome didn't quite hold that against her, after all, it wasn't like she'd left Inuyasha to fend for himself on the streets.

"I'm going up, second floor." Kagome stepped into the elevator beside the old woman who nodded again and pushed the button.

The doors slid close and the elevator began crawling upwards at an unusually slow speed. Kagome reckoned Kaede's weight was jamming the works.

"Just out of curiosity," Kagome turned to her. "Where will Inuyasha be sleeping tonight?"

"If he had his own way he'd sleep on the tattered remains of his bomb-blitzed bed." Kaede responded. "But I think Kikyo will make him sleep in the best bedroom in the villa for once. Who knows. Maybe he'll let himself stay there for good."

"Which rooms that?" She hoped that was far from her own room.

"Room 6."

Ah… too bad. The one right beneath hers instead of above it. Kagome sighed inwardly hoping that no one let a bomb off down there either. She didn't think her floor would take the same strain as her ceiling had.

But there was something more Kagome needed to ask. "Do you know what happened to Inuyasha in 1992."

Kaede gave her a slanted look with her one eye. "You are too nosy, child." True, true… but Kagome liked to think of it as a healthy curiosity. Then Kaede added. "Curiosity killed the cat." Also true.

The elevator doors opened on the second floor and Kagome stepped out, still non the wiser since she had stepped in. "Thanks anyway."

"My pleasure." The old woman drawled as the doors closed again.

Kagome hurried along to her own bedroom and dashed the card key through the lock. It must have been broken or something because it took quite a few tries to get it working and unlocked. But when she succeeded the first thing she did was flop on her bed and let out a big sigh of exhaustion. She was tired from such a rough day. She'd found Inuyasha on the beach that afternoon then learnt about his slightly scary, daunting drug habit, his suicidal tendencies (or lack of) and had a bomb go off in the room above her then had the police question her for three hours straight on the matter. Thankfully no one suspected her in the slightest, which was a surprise since Inuyasha had been going around that evening telling everyone how the crazy schoolgirl had attempted to kill him. Kagome could see where he was coming from though, after all, she was the only person in the villa who hated him.

"What about Kaede though?" she pondered aloud. That woman had a problem with the boy as well… She and Kagome should join forces and form an anti-Inuyasha club…

Kagome got changed quickly into her silk night-gown and headed over to the window to open up the balcony doors to allow some of the stuffy air to escape.

She was assaulted by the smell of cigarette smoke at once. Her hand flew to her nose as she fought the nauseous feeling that arose in her stomach with the gagging smoke. She stepped outside, wondering for a moment if it was smoke from the room above, until her eyes turned to the balcony below and spotted the figure with the white hair leaning on the stone wall complete with the culprit fag.

"You!" she barked, making Inuyasha look up and give her a salute.

"Evenin'!" he called back up with a polar opposite kind of cheerfulness.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed down at him. "For a start you nearly died of an overdose a few hours ago and you should be resting in bed before you get hit with those withdrawal symptoms Kikyo keeps talking about – and for another, how dare you light up below my balcony and gas me out with your noxious fumes."

"You know a lot of long words for a kid." He told her, taking another drag of his cigarette before flicking the ash over the side of the balcony wall.

"It only seems that way because you're a retard." She told him curtly. "Now put that out before you get lung cancer."

"Oh I'm shaking." He said flatly, but even so he stamped the butt out on the balcony and tossed it into the darkness below him. Just when Kagome thought she'd won the argument, he pulled out another, much to her annoyance.

"Your breath will stink even more than it does." She warned.

"I brush my teeth." He said with a glare up at her. "Unlike some people."

"Your teeth will turn yellow no matter how much you brush." She went on. "Then we'll see how many die-hard fans stick to a dog with a yellowing fangs and bad breath."

"It doesn't cost much to get a little whitening job down at the dentists a couple of years down the line." He lit the cigarette and blew the smoke upwards at her.

She coughed deliberately and loudly. "You'll get lines around your mouth and your fingers will turn yellow."

"No they won't. I'm a Hanyou remember."

"Think of all the tar clogging up your lungs!" she snapped.

"Think of the way that I don't really care." He said loftily.

"You're committing slow suicide by doing this." She said quietly.

"Oh, but it's such good stress relief."

"And you have shit to be stressed about with all your lackeys doing your thinking." She ground out, leaving a rather shocked Inuyasha standing below her at her choice of language, before picking up her watering can (for her plastic flowers) and dumping the contents over his head. She didn't even pause to listen to his streaming string of expletives as she headed back inside her room and shut the balcony door, regardless of how it was still stuffy. She'd rather have a stuffy room than a smoky one.

She went to bed with a troubled mind.

~*~

He had no idea why he'd told her what he had that afternoon. First of all it was absolutely none of her business. She was a nosy bitch who was annoying and needed to be sent away as soon as possible if only Kikyo would let him. He decided it must have been the effects of the drugs that had made him stop caring about what he'd said. Because he was almost certain that he wouldn't talk like that about secrets and feelings he guarded very closely every day…

Well… he had a fight to go to tomorrow. He had to get his rest and start doing his warm-ups early in the morning if he wanted to get anywhere. And it was against Kouga of all people…

That guy made his skin crawl and his lip curl. The semi-finals… all he had to do was beat Kouga and he would make it on to the last round… and if he won that he would be the champion for the third year – not third year running though, since last year he'd lost to that meatball with the outie belly button… He had to beat Kouga to face the meatball man again.

Which was why Kikyo's declaration the next morning had him floored.

"You're forfeiting the match with Kouga."

Inuyasha practically sprayed half the people around the breakfast table with his cereal – mostly Kagome who was sat opposite him… though he wasn't entirely sorry for it. But then again he was too outraged at Kikyo to care. "What?!" he snarled.

"Don't give me that tone." She gave him a cold look. "Thanks to your antics yesterday with the heroin you can't enter."

"Why the hell not?!"

"Because they do drug's tests, doofus." Kagome told him curtly whilst she flicking crispy cereal puffs off her sleeves.

"Or did you forget that?" Kikyo folded her arms.

"Then I won't take the test." He declared loudly.

"That's just as bad as failing the test." Miroku told him without taking his eyes off his morning paper. "You'll just have to skip the finals this year and take part next year."

He was about to explode all over again when Sango put in her opinion. "It's your own fault. You should have known to be careful with drugs only twenty four hours before a fight. If you test positive then you'll be screwed."

"But they weren't what I'd call performance enhancing drugs." He snapped, noticing how Kagome was quickly growing irritated with the topic of conversation. Well tough.

Kikyo scowled. "I know, but the results are still published for everyone to see and when everyone sees that perfect little Inuyasha took heroin you'll never hear the end of it and you'll lose all your sponsors and fans like that." She clicked her fingers to demonstrate her point.

"This is ridiculous…" he grumbled. 

Kikyo ignored him. "And also the police still haven't found the culprit who planted the bomb in your bedroom. They believe it was attempted assassination but they haven't any more leads on the matter."

"Well I could have told you that." Inuyasha snapped again. He couldn't take their company anymore. He had to get out of there and get the little problem with Kouga sorted.

~*~

"And our new corporate slogan is… 'The power of the Internet lies in converging the future with the here and now.'" Sesshomaru set down his papers at the board table and glanced over at his small green associate. "Goose-bumps?"

"Psoriasis." Jaken replied, picking at his arm.

"Oh lovely." Sesshomaru wheeled his chair away slightly.

"Mr Sesshomaru sir!" His new secretary Rin came bobbing through the meeting door with a post-it in her hand. He always marvelled at how young and bouncy she was. And very pretty, but slightly dim. Perfect in that case. "Mr Sesshomaru, you're brother just called, he needs to see you right away."

"Oh really? I'm in a meeting, Rin."

"He says it's urgent, something about Uranus?" Rin looked like a lost lamb. What a dear little thing she was.

"The planet or my actual anus?" he prompted.

"No… no… oh! About Urine! Sorry! My handwritings terrible!" she hopped out of the room again leaving Sesshomaru with many, many puzzled faces staring straight at him.

He cleared his throat and slipped out of his chair. "I think I better take that call…"

~*~

Kagome knew Inuyasha was up to something the moment he'd slunk away from the breakfast table with the air of a hound trailing away with its tail between its legs. Perhaps she'd been prying a little too much so far, but she had a feeling that this time he was up to something far more dangerous than drugs.

It was while she was taking a swim in the pool with Sango that she noticed a movement out of the corner of her eye. When she turned and looked she spotted Inuyasha rounding the corner of the building and disappearing out of sight, obviously with some destination in mind. He looked deadly serious.

"Um, Sango? I'm just going to get more sun cream." She excused herself to the other girl as she pulled herself out of the water.

"But we have some right here." Sango pointed to the bottle on the table by the pool.

"Um… I have sensitive skin so I think I'll get a higher screen-factor from my room." She wrapped the towel around her body and ran, bare-foot, after Inuyasha.

She rounded the corner of the building and stopped. No where had he got to? All she could see now was the North side of the villa with the extensive car hanger on her other side. The driveway connected to the hanger/garage thing and beyond that was the gardens. So where had the sneaky snake snuck off to?

Then Kagome noticed the open door behind a row of bushes. It led into the garage and was swinging slight as if it had just been opened. _Ah hah_! She thought and padded silently towards it. She peeked through it before entering. She didn't see Inuyasha, but she saw a heck of a lot of cars. According to Miroku they had all belonged to Inuyasha's parents, mostly his mother since she liked her accessories from her earrings to her handbag to her Porsche. The cars were all sporty numbers parked in rows. There must have been at least sixty of them in total.

Maybe no one would even notice if Kagome took one home with her? Not that she could drive or anything…

She stepped between two red Ferraris and made her way towards the open hanger bay doors. It looked as if someone was planning to go for a drive. If it was Inuyasha then Kagome knew for a fact that he was too young to drive.

She stopped beside the only estate business car in the garage when she heard voices somewhere close-by.

Knowing she didn't want to be caught snooping she immediately dove around her for a place to hide. She tried the silver Porsche beside her – locked. So she tried the Toyota estate instead. Luckily someone was smiling down on her and the back door opened without a fuss or a screech of an alarm. She hopped quickly inside and shut the door as quietly as possible. She peeped out of the tinted window long enough to see _two_ silver haired men enter the garage through the hangar doors. At that point she ducked down out of sight, her heart beating hard.

"… the things I do for a needy brother." The strange man said.

"It's only one little test you have to take. I need someone with dog demon blood otherwise they'll know it wasn't _me _who took the test." Kagome recognised Inuyasha's voice.

"Kikyo's going to kill you."

"I'm not scared of her."

"I can see your hands shaking."

"Yeah well… that's something else entirely."

"Are you sure you should even be bothering in the condition you're in. A chicken with a broken wing could probably knock you over in that ring."

"No it wouldn't."

Their voices grew closer… and Kagome realised too late that they were heading straight for the very car she was hiding in.

"Crap…" she hissed and hunched further behind the front seats, trying to make herself invisible.

"I hope you appreciate this." The drivers door opened and the stranger got in behind the wheel. Kagome only saw a minor glimpse of him, but she recognised him instantly. He was Sesshomaru – style guru and catwalk King and also founder of e-tech, the most renowned company of Internet computing.

He would also happen to be Inuyasha's brother.

Inuyasha got into the passenger side. Kagome didn't see very much of him at all since she was squished up nice and tight against the back of his seat. Even more so when he helpfully pushed his seat back to the furthest it would go.

The engine revved and the doors slammed shut. Kagome mentally and sarcastically thanked her lucky stars. She couldn't believe it. She was hitching a ride with two of the most famous men in Japan… and she wanted out?

Her main concern was if they would notice her. Her second being what they would do if they noticed her. And thirdly, how the heck she was supposed to get back to the villa. But above all that she realised that she was only wearing a bikini and a blue towel… not appropriate costume for a day out.

"Smells like chlorine in here." Inuyasha commented.

Kagome stiffened and held her breath.

"Wife took the kids down to the swimming baths yesterday." Was his brother's explanation.

"So did you let my little niece watch Blair Witch last night?" Inuyasha.

"Yes. She said scarier things have flown out of my nose."

"She speaks only the truth."

Sesshomaru made a sharp turn left that had Kagome bracing herself uneasily. "We plan to rent Titanic tonight."

"I saw that. It was crap." Inuyasha said bitterly. "It battered my intelligence so much that I barely found my way out of the cinema. I should have eaten twenty bags of sugar, at least it would have made me throw-up sooner. It sank – there – I saved you 3 hours of your life."

"You were cheering the ice-berg weren't you." Kagome clapped a hand over her mouth, but too late. She'd already spoken. The two men in the front of the vehicle suddenly spun around to locate the source of the voice. Sesshomaru was the one who spotted her.

"What the hell…?" he muttered.

"Eyes on the road!" Inuyasha punched his brothers arm as he quickly scrambled over the seat and fell into the back with Kagome. She found herself being hauled up by her arms the moment he arrived.

"Talk!" he snapped right with his nose touching hers.

Kagome's head swam from the suddenly movement. "Hi…" was all she managed.

He pushed her back onto the seat. "What are you doing here?!" 

"I… I thought I saw a rabbit in here…" she said lamely. "I was trying to rescue it."

"Bull."

"No, rabbit." She insisted.

Inuyasha made an irritated sound as he turned to his brother. "Stop the car, we're kicking her out."

"You can't do that!" she burst out. "How will I get home?!"

"Maybe you can sneak into someone else's car." He snapped back. "Now stop the car."

"Forget it, Inuyasha." His brother told him calmly. "We might as well take her with us."

Kagome glanced between them with concern. "You haven't got a body in the boot wrapped up in bloody sheets and rope have you? And you're not taking it to the quarry to dump down there and you're not planning to throw me down there with it are you?"

"And if we are?" Inuyasha challenged with narrowed eyes.

"Stop it." Sesshomaru told both of them in the authoritatively. "She's coming to the arena with us. You can give her some clothes when we get there and a VIP ticket. She is Kagome Higurashi, right?"

"How does everyone know that?" she wanted to know.

"Your picture's been pasted around the country for the last few days. Right now people want to see you more than they want to see Inuyasha."

"Really?"

"You wouldn't know. It's very isolated up at the villa." Inuyasha told her, sitting back in the seat. Seeing as how he wasn't hurling her out of the window, Kagome figured it was safe to relax a little.

It suddenly hit her. "Oh… you're going to the fight aren't you." She frowned at him. "But Kikyo said-"

"Kikyo says a lot of things. All of it a load of garbage." Inuyasha snorted.

"But what about the drug's test?"

Inuyasha smirked and pointed a thumb at Sesshomaru. "That's where he comes in. He's taking the test for me." "I see. And you're going to get away with this?" she folded her arms.

"Of course. I always get what I want." He responded arrogantly.

It could have all been solved by a simple matter of _not _doing drugs. Then he wouldn't have to do anything further illegal to get on with his job. Kagome smouldered on this while she wished that she had never bothered getting involved with Inuyasha's affairs. She was learning he had more skeletons in his closet than the grim reaper…

What she didn't notice was Inuyasha scanning her rather scantily clad form. "Well then," he said, stirring her out of her thoughts. "Now that we have that settled why don't we make ourselves a little more cosy, yeah?"

His hand moved faster than a cobra as it hooked behind her knee and dragged her towards him. She lashed out mostly because he'd alarmed her, but also because his hand had grazed the cuts on the back of her thighs. "Get off!" she planted her foot in his side, making him grimace and recoil a little.

Up front Sesshomaru just laughed lightly. "You don't have a chance against Kouga if you can't take a little kick from a little girl."

Inuyasha clambered back up front to the passenger seat after that and Kagome gladly shuffled as far away from his side of the car as possible. She couldn't even trust Inuyasha in the company of other people not to pull stunts like that?

Kagome recognised the sports arena they arrived in, it was the place where most of the important sporting events were televised from… not that she usually took much interest in sports. They were early, and since they used the back entrance no one saw them arrive or enter. Kagome followed the pair of white haired brothers through the halls, vaguely thinking how much it all resembled the hallways of the football stadium she sometimes took Souta to go see with Grandpa. She was just about to follow them into the bathroom when Inuyasha held up a hand with a wry smile. "No girls, sorry."

"I want clothes." She said shortly.

"Here," he reached into his pocket and handed her his wallet. "There's a VIP ticket in there and some money to buy yourself some clothes."

"Do you see any clothes stalls around here?" she pointed out.

"You'll come up with something, interesting girl." He shooed her away and gave her a pat on the behind that had her burning with ire at him, but he was gone into the bathroom with his brother before she could vent it on him.

Instead she went off in search of a place to find some clothes. Like she'd said, there weren't exactly any designer outlets hanging around… so she had to improvise. She had just about resigned herself to wearing a couple of fresh white towels when she came across a closet full of tennis dresses.

"Bingo." She picked the smallest one out and looked around to make sure no one was around before shuffling into it. Not a perfect fit, but what was she to expect?

Now all she had to do was find out where the fight was supposed to take place…

Her salvation came in the form of a dark haired youth with sharp green eyes. Something about him struck her as familiar. But she was sure that she would have remembered if she'd met someone with his description before. His hair was almost as long as Inuyasha's, but obsidian black and pitched in a high tie towards the top of his head. He was round about Inuyasha's age as well, and just as built. She wondered if he was a fellow fighter.

The green eyes fell on her and seemed to weigh her for a moment as he came closer. "You'll do. Come with me." 

__

What a presumptuous order! Kagome planted her fists on her hips. "What do you mean by that?" she said contrarily.

"My normal prep girl couldn't make it in today, do you mind filling in for her?" he stopped and regarded her impatiently.

Ah… he thought she was a member of the staff. Kagome was momentarily left at a loss of what to say.

"Come on then." He crooked a finger to beckon her as he started off on his way again. "I have a match in an hour and I want my massage."

Kouga? Out of pure curiosity she followed him. She was getting mildly interesting in the sport that Inuyasha engaged in. These two didn't really seem to have the build or style of movement like the usual boxers she saw on television. Kagome followed the fighter as he led her into one of the side changing rooms, it was already filled with six or so other men getting changed… Kagome had to keep her eyes averted or firmly fixed on the back of Kouga's head. "Do you always have a massage before you fight?" she asked.

"Of course. Loosens your muscles. Makes you more flexible." He offered as an explanation as he led her into a separate room off of the main changing area. When she closed the door behind her he gave a small sarcastic laugh. "Not that I'll be needing to fight today."

"What makes you say that?" she asked absently as she worried about where she was and how she was going to get back to Inuyasha or someone else who knew what to do with her.

"My opponent won't be coming today. You've heard of Inuyasha, right?" Kagome nodded as he set down his bag on a bench against the wall and pulled himself up onto the table in the centre of the room. "If he has any sense he won't turn up today."

"You sound so certain." Kagome didn't feel like telling him that his assumptions were incorrect and Inuyasha was probably getting a massage of his own right across the hall from them.

"Of course. He wouldn't want to let everyone know he has a drug problem now, does he?" 

Kagome stiffened. How did this guy know? "How do you…"

"I was the one who gave him the stuff the other day. He took it gladly enough." The dark-haired fighter said with a smirk as he began stripping out of his clothes. Kagome watched him with a growing cold anger in her stomach. "And just to make sure he would forfeit the fight I slipped another two bags in his beer."

He lay down on his stomach and rested his chin on his arms. "You can start on the shoulders, love."

Kagome ground her teeth together as a new rage blazed inside her, erupting from that cold lump of anger in her stomach. This guy had nearly killed Inuyasha. Kagome didn't have to necessarily like Inuyasha to stick up for him in this circumstance. This idiot had preyed on an addiction, played dirty, manipulated his weakness – whatever she called it, it made her angry. 

And he would pay.

Kagome, defender of the needy, pushed her sleeves up and cracked her knuckles. "Let's get you loosened up then." She said in a deceptively syrupy voice that he would have known was completely false if he'd looked up into her stormy, malevolent face.

His screams could be heard all the way down the corridor to the arriving spectators.

AN: Isn't she so protective? ^_^


	9. And the Winner is?

****

Author's Notes: Feel free to guess away as to what happened in 1992 by the way, I don't mind. So far two people reckon that Inuyasha was the one who killed his parents in that year… O.o … maybe if he was a _very _disturbed six year old and it took his parents five odd years to die (remember they died when he was eleven). Good guess though. But quite far off ^_^

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 9

And the Winner is…?

"If It was that easy to get out of his cell then why didn't he try that before?" Sango scoffed at the Tv.

Miroku sighed patiently. "Maybe he didn't noticed that the window could be smashed when he got in there."

"How fortunate of him to realise that glass is fragile when they start pouring gas into the room." Sango continued to quibble with the plot, popping some pop-corn into her mouth every now and then. They probably should have been watching the security CTV monitors, but why bother when Police Academy was on?

"You'd be just the same if you were stuck in a room with no exit." Miroku told her.

"If there's a window, there's a way out." Sango contradicted firmly.

He slanted her a look. "Ok. What if there was no window?"

"Then I'd walk out the door." 

"What if the door was locked?" 

"Then I'd unlock it?" 

"How?" 

"With the key."

Sango could be very difficult when she put her mind to it. Miroku let his feet drop off the table as he set about correcting this new problem. "What if there isn't a key?" he pointed out. "I doubt they would…" he stopped and looked around warily before continuing, "I doubt they'd leave the key lying about in your cell."

"Are there bars to this cell?" she turned to him, momentarily forgetting the film.

"No. Concrete walls on all four sides."

"But there's a door right?"

"Right."

"Then I'd pick the lock." 

"But what if your guy stuck gum to prevent you doing that. Or what if you'd forgotten your lock-picking kit?" 

"Then I'd knock the door down."

Miroku ran a hand over his face. "Ok. What if they threw you down into the room by a trapdoor in the ceiling?"

"Then I'd jump back out."

"It's too high to jump!"

"I'm a very good jumper!" Sango protested. "I'd pick the lock on the trapdoor and jump out again!"

"Ok, forget that. What if they squeezed you into the room through the light bulb socket?"

Sango was just about to say that she'd simply squeeze back out when the door flew open, bounced against the wall and in marched their boss. Kikyo. She didn't look happy. "He's not here. He's gone. And Kagome's gone with him."

They didn't need to ask just whom had gone. They glanced at each other and Miroku gulped. Perhaps they should have been watching the screens more closely…

Kikyo sighed in a strained way, her fists clenched with white knuckles on her hips. "What are you both?"

"Pathetic losers." They both chorused dully.

"Three guesses where he's gone?" Kikyo continued.

"The match." They both said in an even flatter unison.

"Get the car." Kikyo turned and started walking out. "Hopefully we can get there and pull him out before the match starts."

Miroku quickly formed a moustache with his finger and raised his arm in the 'Heil Hitler!' salute. Sango jabbed her elbow in his side just in time for Kikyo to turn around suspiciously at their shuffling sounds. He quickly turned that salute into a stretch and a scratch on the nose as they both smiled innocently at Kikyo.

"Well come on." Their boss snapped and stomped at with the two reluctant employees.

~*~

"ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

Kagome staggered as she was pushed out of the changing room into the corridor again. "I keep telling you – it's all the rage in Europe!"

"To have your muscles ripped apart?!" Kouga screamed from the doorway, clinging to the towel around his waist.

"It's a Russian massage!" She said hotly, bracing herself against the opposite wall. "Obviously you're not man enough to take it!"

"I'll see that you never work in this place again!" The fighter shouted at her.

"Well oh deary me!" she flipped her hair. "I never worked here in the first place!"

When his expression turned to that of stunned surprise she realised that now was a good time to run. "Bye." She said hurriedly and scuttled off down the corridor before he could drag her back. But she was proud of herself… not only had she seriously pissed off another arrogant butt-head of a superstar, but she'd also avenged Inuyasha.

But she had also found out something vital. It wasn't Inuyasha who had overdosed – but Kouga who had drugged him instead…

Though she also knew for certain now that he had also willingly taken the first part of the drug from Kouga originally.

"Stupid idiot…" she muttered to herself as she jogged through the corridors, trying to find her way. She intended to head back to the bathroom where she'd parted with Inuyasha and his brother, but she seemed to have turned herself around and was completely lost.

She must have wondered around for nearly twenty minutes, getting increasingly worried and lost as time went on.

She eventually stopped and looked around for some sort of sign as to where she was. The only sign she saw was an arrow pointing in the direction of the arena. It reminded her of the ticket Inuyasha had given her and she quickly fished out his wallet and opened it.

Three old bills fluttered out onto the floor along with one lone season ticket, VIP. Kagome wouldn't have been too surprised if a flood of moths had popped out as well. She crouched down and counted the money he had.

Six hundred yen? For being the tenth richest person in the world he sure didn't look it. And he expected her to buy clothes with this kind of money? With a roll of her eyes, Kagome stuffed the money into her own pocket and picked up the VIP ticket.

"Excuse me, are you lost?"

Kagome glanced up to see some male member of staff walking towards her. She quickly wondered what she was supposed to do now. "Uh… yeah… I think I got turned around on my way to the bathroom." Not a complete lie.

"Are you here for the semi-finals."

"Yep. VIP ticket?" she waved it in front of her, noticing the man's eyes trying to follow it and decipher if it was genuine. For a moment he looked like he was going to turn her down, but then he also seemed to notice Kagome's face.

"Hey… aren't you Kagome Higurashi?"

Damn, that was getting annoying. "Yeah…"

"Fantastic! Come with me! The fight's already beginning but you can still make it."

Fantastic? Kagome followed after him uncertainly as he began leading her down the corridor. The further she followed him, the louder an odd sound in the distance seemed to become. It was only when she was shoved through a pair of swinging doors into a dark, warm, moist space that she realised what it was.

People. Thousands of them. 

She froze in awe as her eyes swept the giant area structured like an amphitheatre. She stood at the very back, on the highest tear with the member of staff beside her, giving her a clear sight of the box shaped 'ring' in the very centre of the arena, already inhabited by two of the most annoying superstars she'd come across. Inuyasha and Kouga.

The fight hadn't started yet, she could see that much. Inuyasha was leaning against the springy ropes in one corner talking down to his brother and an old hunched man. Kouga was in the other corner rubbing his poor abused shoulders (Kagome's handiwork of course). 

"VIP seats are this way." The guy beside her began leading her down the steps towards the centre of the arena where the ring was. It was a long way getting there, and halfway down the stairs a bell rung somewhere overhead. Kagome stopped, looking around for the source of the bell for a moment before noticing that there was movement in the ring. She turned just in time to see a flash of claws, a huge uproar from the crowd, and two combatants clashing.

"What about gloves?!" she found herself yelping. Surely people with nails _that _length had to wear something to avoid serious injury.

"Not in this sport, Miss Higurashi." The member of staff leading her stopped when he realised she wasn't following anymore. "This is _demon_ fighting. No holds barred."

The pair of fighters ripped through their motions. Cuts and gashes appeared like blossoming wounds out of thin air… already Kagome could see four heavy streaks of red marred Inuyasha's back. It was almost too violent to watch… she wanted to turn away.

This was nothing like the 'boxing' she was used to where two big men danced on tipytoes, bopping each other in the nose every five minutes. Actually… boxing was rather tame compared to this – at least those big men seemed to want to hug each other every time they got too close… these two lightweights just lunged and ripped apart whatever happened to be in their path.

"This way, Miss." The man began leading her again.

__

Don't take me closer, she felt like she'd be sick if she got too close. How could so many people watch this and get entertained by it? This was horrific…

But her feet took her down after the man, cringing as she got closer to the literal blood-shed. Despite being hard to watch, she just couldn't tear her eyes off the pair. Her footing fumbled at one point when Kouga caught Inuyasha in a body-lock against the edge of the ring. Inuyasha's response was the claw away psychotically at Kouga's back until the wolf demon released him looking as if he was in pure agony.

Her seat was located only six metres away from the fight and from here she could clearly see the bloody streaks on the floor of the ring, a few printed red footprints stood boldly from the white matting. She slid down into her seat slowly, a chronic grimace on her face, wincing every time the crowd cheered or booed extra loudly when someone caught a heavy blow.

Weren't there any rules? Shouldn't there be an R rated sign on the door? Surely kids couldn't watch this?

The commentary was barely audible over the screaming spectators.

"…a nice swift blow delivered there by Kouga. Ooh! That was a close one for Inuyasha – if he'd been knocked to the floor then he would have lost the first round – oh but he's making his come-back!"

Really, Kagome figured that the fight was moving far too fast to be tracked by a commentary. Each seemed to gain the upper-hand only to lose it in the next split second. Kagome wiggled uncomfortably in her seat, wondering if there was a law against this kind of sport. She felt like she was watching some kind of gladiator movie, even though a small part of her mind told her that they were demons, fighting like this was practically sparring.

…Right?

Kagome couldn't sit and watch anymore. She had to take action.

So she stood up and screamed. "Inuyasha! Be careful!"

How the hell he managed to pick her voice out of thousands of screaming people all screaming the same name was astonishing to her. But the moment his name left her lips his ears flicked and his head whipped to face her.

The same moment Kouga delivered his killing blow.

A collectively anguished sound rose from the crowd as Inuyasha went down, hitting the matt with a thud that was drowned out by the crowd's groans. Unconscious.

The bell rung from its unseen location and Kouga lifted his arms in triumph. Round one to the wolf. This turn of events was greeted by more boos than cheers and whistles.

Kagome sidled back down in her seat, hand clapped over her mouth as if it was her own voice that had felled Inuyasha. Well… in a way it had been like that. "Aw crap…"

Kouga returned to his corner smugly, whilst Inuyasha had to be dragged by the referee to his. Kagome watched contemptuously as the wolf took a swig of his water bottle, tossed it over his shoulder and out of the ring then glared across the space between him and Inuyasha while listening to his trainer talking to him. Inuyasha had his water bottle dumped over his head – but it served to snap him awake at once.

And the first person he looked to was Kagome. She gulped. He did not look pleased.

He said something to her and even though she couldn't quite catch the words over the crowd, she could read his lips perfectly. 'Get over here – NOW'

Kagome timidly slipped out of her seat and edged over to the barrier separating the stands from the ring. No one tried to stop her as she hopped over them, not when she was on Inuyasha's orders. She kept her eyes on Inuyasha as she drew closer to his corner of the ring and stopped beside the old man she was assuming to be Inuyasha's trainer. Sesshomaru was now sat in his own VIP seat talking on his cell phone with a finger stuck in his other ear. "No, sorry – you'll have to speak louder!"

Inuyasha regarded her silently for a moment, his face already severely battered and one eye beginning to swell shut. Kagome's gaze tracked a heavy stream of blood that trickled down the left side of his face from a gash above his left eye. He looked ready to drop dead.

"Taken the test yet?" she found herself asking when he failed to fill the void of silence between them.

"Stay with Toutousai and stop distracting me." He said simply as the second round bell rung. Kagome glanced down at the slightly spaced out old man before looking back at Inuyasha.

"I think you should pull out – you're losing badly here!"

"I'm fine!" he yelled back as he staggered back towards Kouga.

"You'll hurt yourself!"

"It's only a few cuts and scratches, girl." The old man named Toutousai told her as he went to sit down beside Sesshomaru who was still talking into his phone. "I SAID YOU'LL HAVE TO SPEAK UP!"

"This is practically sadism!" she yelled. A bit of an understatement in her book, but she was ignored as the second round got underway. Inuyasha seemed to be tiring already, but Kouga was going strong. Either Inuyasha was a bad fighter, or those drugs were still affecting his performance. Kagome was sent cringing all over again as the pair continued to tussle, claws cutting so easily into flesh that Kagome was reminded of the mental image of a warm knife through butter.

She was just beginning to feel nauseous when Miroku and Sango arrived on either side of her.

"Thought we'd find you here." Miroku commented.

"Who's winning?" Sango asked.

"Uh… Kouga." Kagome put a hand to her mouth as specs of blood hit the mat right under her nose. She'd lost track of whose blood was whose now.

"What happened to the drug's test?" Miroku seemed to regard the violent match as if he were watching Saturday night football. Like he'd seen it all before. Kagome felt she had far to go before she became as acclimatised to it as him.

"His brother took the test." Kagome told him.

Sango hissed through her teeth. "I smell illegal things going on… we can't possibly get away with them all."

"I beg to differ." Miroku said confidently.

Kagome suddenly remembered what had urged her to ring Kouga's shoulders out like a wet towel in the first place. She surged forward to grip the edge of the mat. "Inuyasha! It was Kouga! He was the one who overdosed your drink with-!"

She would have gone on if Miroku hadn't pulled her back with a hand clapped over her mouth. But her work was done and Inuyasha had heard her.

What Kagome witnessed then was what she could only describe as a miraculous comeback. Inuyasha came to the teetering edge of falling to the mat at any given moment to winning the upperhand. Given another thirty seconds he probably could have thrown Kouga to the floor and taken the second round for himself. But luck was not on his side as the bell sounded for the end of the round. 

Both fighters retreated into the respective corners and Inuyasha flopped down onto the stool provided and slumped there panting, mingled sweat and blood pouring from his body. Kagome felt a growing respect for his endurance… but still reckoned this kind of sport was more stupid than anything else.

"I almost… had him…" Inuyasha breathed heavily.

"You'll get him in the next round." Miroku patted his damp shoulder and tossed another flask of water over Inuyasha's face. "Hang in there."

Kagome felt she had to add to the encouragement, even if she didn't approve. "You're getting better, just keep at the bastard."

She was rewarded with an odd look from Inuyasha, as if he was calculating her. But it only lasted for a moment as the bell for the third round rung loud and clear. Inuyasha stood wearily and made his way back towards Kouga. Kagome surprised herself and those around her yet again when she grabbed the bungee rope around the ring. "Don't let him get to you! You can beat him - You can do it, Inuyasha!"

It ended quickly. One punch was all it took to send Kouga sprawling on the floor… bear in mind that it was one hell of a hit and even Inuyasha swayed from its execution and nearly toppled straight after the wolf.

The bell rung again, a mere ten seconds after the start of the round and it was over. Inuyasha, riddled with fatigue (and probably withdrawal symptoms) raised his arms unsteadily into the air, greeted by a chorus of cheers and whistles.

Kagome was delighted for him, her dislike was temporarily forgotten as she cheered along with everyone else and jumped up and down with Sango.

But still, at the end of the day, it was still only a draw.

~*~

"I hope you've learned your lesson from all of this." Kagome tapped Inuyasha's knee as they sped back to the villa along the driveway in the Toyota they'd come away in. It was only now that Kagome realised how fast and reckless Sesshomaru's driving was.

"And what lesson would that be?" Inuyasha searched through his coat pockets for something.

"That drugs don't pay. You nearly lost that match completely thanks to your irresponsible behaviour."

"Yeah, but I didn't, did I?" he pointed out.

"But you _nearly _did." Kagome stressed the word. "If I hadn't told you the truth about the overdose you wouldn't have gotten angry enough to win that last round."

Inuyasha sullenly remained silent.

"And you could also say that if I hadn't argued with you yesterday then you would still have been in your room when that bomb went off." She folded her arms. "You could say that I saved your life."

"Oh sweet Jesus she saved my life…" Yet he said that in a more despairing tone of voice than anything else. "So you think I owe you one, is that it?"

She sighed. "No. All I'm saying is that you could show me a little appreciation."

"Leave off. I've had a rough day." He muttered.

Then much to her irritation he pulled a cigarette from his pocket and turned to her. "Got a light?"

She glared stonily at him.

"Right, right…" he passed her over in favour of his brother. "Toss the lighter, will you?"

Sesshomaru silently plucked the car's cigarette lighter out of its socket and flicked it over his shoulder into the back seat. Inuyasha didn't catch it as deftly as he should have and fumbled with it. His hands were shaking too badly.

Kagome's pity got the better of her and she impatiently snatched up the lighter and held it steady for him. "You could have the decency to wait till I'm out of the car. Ever hear of passive smoking?"

"You don't mind do you?" he asked as his trembling hand failed to line his cigarette up with the lighter. Kagome sighed and closed her hand around his in order to steady him.

"I do mind actually." She said quietly.

"Fair enough." He shrugged, dropped his hand away from hers and tossed the slightly singed fag out of the open window. Kagome blinked at his choice of action, glancing from him to the window and then back again. "Why'd you do that?"

"Well you were only going to complain if I hadn't." he said as a way of an excuse. Kagome frowned at him slightly, not knowing what to think, as she handed back the lighter to Sesshomaru who placed it back in its slot.

They sat the rest of the journey down the villa driveway in silence, Miroku, Sango and Kikyo following in the car behind.

~*~

A match had been scheduled for the following Friday, a rematch against Kouga since the last one had been a draw. Inuyasha vowed to get his strength back for that next match in two days time… but strength seemed to be failing him quite drastically as he hunched over the toilet bowl of his bathroom, reliving his supper.

The only other time he'd suffered withdrawal symptoms was after the first time he'd overdosed. He'd intended that to be his last time… but thanks to Kouga he was having to suffer the same rather uncomfortable experience all over again.

He pulled the chain and collapsed on the floor in a pathetic heap as the flush of the toilet drained away under the floorboards. Perhaps he should just go and die right then. Ha! That would give everyone something to talk about… except… nah, he didn't like the idea of dying. And the cramps beginning to set in on his empty stomach reminded him painfully that he was still very much alive and in need of something to eat or drink.

His fingers didn't shake so much as he turned the handle of his bedroom door and stepped out into the cool corridor outside. He pulled the door to slowly and rested his forehead against it before closing his eyes and taking deep breathes.

He thought about the way he'd come to within an inch of his life the day before, and about the person who had saved him in the nick of time. The same person who had began cheering him on in the third round of the fight. His anger with Kouga had been rather unspectacular. Kouga's attempt to put him out of the competition didn't surprise him, nor did it really anger him. But the girl's encouragement had been enough to reach him, she hated him, yet she'd been cheering him on eagerly. It had stirred something inside him that he thought had been withered and dead for a long time. It had given him what he'd needed to strike out against Kouga.

And her patient gentleness when she'd held his hand steady in the car. She'd pitied him – he could see that and though it had irritated him, he'd still wondered why she'd even bothered helping him when she clearly didn't want him to smoke in front of her.

He'd tossed that cigarette out of the window for two reasons. One; because he couldn't stand her pity. Two; because he thought she didn't deserve to be uncomfortable with him after all he'd put her through over the last few days. It was only a small compensation though…

Something clattered around the bend in the corridor and Inuyasha lifted his head away from the door and straightened as a cleaner and her trolley came around the corner. A pretty blonde girl on her round to fold back the bed covers for the night in each room. She smiled shyly at him before disappearing into the bedroom at the far end of the corridor.

Inuyasha shook himself and started for the elevator, passing the maid's trolley and nicking a few of the pillow mints as he went. That would keep his stomach occupied for the trip down to the kitchens. He only hoped that cook would still be up preparing for breakfast. But cook was pretty unpredictable. She had a bad habit of going to bed too damn early for people who wanted a late night snack.

The elevator took him down to the ground floor. But the moment the doors peeled back he stopped, his mind momentarily moved off his stomach. Someone was playing the piano in the classic room.

A shiver passed over him as his slightly more darker memories returned. The last person to play that piano had been his father.

He stood there straining to catch the melody that he forgot he was still in the elevator until the doors began closing on him. He quickly blocked them and stepped out, looking towards the heavy door of the classic room. The night-shift guard was snoring away in his chair close-by. Of course he wouldn't be able to hear the music, not with human hearing and soundproof doors and walls.

He drifted past the old man and reached for the handle of the room. He wondered who on earth would be inside playing at this hour of the night. He didn't know anyone who had talent with the piano, and even if it was a hidden talent why were they playing now and never before?

He silently turned the handle and pushed the door open enough to let the sound come flooding out. The sleeping guard snorted in his sleep and shifted, but he didn't awaken. However, Inuyasha listened with rapt attention.

He'd never heard such a melody before.

His curiosity pushed him and he opened the door wider to step through the gap. He froze like a deer caught in the headlights when he saw the dark-haired school-girl sitting at the stool in her night-gown, her fingers dashing over the keys of the piano.

What the hell was this?

He could do nothing more than stand there and listen. She had no music sheet propped open in front of her, and she watched her fingers the way his father had scolded Inuyasha for when he'd attempted to give his son a few lessons. Inuyasha had never gotten past the basics. His father had died after the third lesson. Not that Inuyasha had shown much promise.

Inuyasha hadn't dared go into this room since then.

This girl hadn't even learnt that tune off by heart. She wasn't playing it from memory. He hated sounding romantic but… she sounded like she was playing it from her very _soul_. Only she could have invented such a personal tune, playing it with an precarious pace that seemed the lilt up and down like an unbalanced emotion. It was a confused, it was weary and it was _her_. It was beautiful and haunting, but modest in design. It was simply the way she played that made it come to life… that expressed her feelings in a way that words couldn't manage to cover.

He was behind her and reaching out for her shoulder before he realised what he was doing. But he recoiled in an instant, clutching his offending hand to his chest as he backed away to the door again. He couldn't disturb her. He felt like he was invading her personal space, watching her while she undressed like some strange kind of pervert. 

He silently left the room and shut the door again, leaving no evidence that he'd been there. He carried on to the kitchens and sighed when he realised that Cook had already gone to bed, leaving a loaf of bread defrosting on the island counter for use as toast the next morning. She just wasn't putting the effort into her cooking like she used to…

Inuyasha resigned himself to prying a few pieces of the frozen bread off of the loaf and headed back to his room chewing them absently.

By the time he got the bed, the frosty pieces of bread had been left forgotten on the floor beside his bedside table and he lay on his mattress feeling every ache and bruise that covered his body… but instead of dwelling on the uncomfortable pain he strained to remember the tune that he'd just hear. But for the life of him it had escaped his memory… thought he still remembered how beautiful it had been, and the emotion conveyed through it. It was like hearing some amazing, moving speech, but later on being unable to remember the precise wording despite knowing what had been said fundamentally.

He did remember one thing though.

"Kagome… Kagome Higurashi…" he sighed as he drifted off to sleep.

AN: Are these chapters coming out fast enough yet? ^_-


	10. The Headlines

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Author's Notes: Believe it or not, but I'm actually making more of an effort to watch my spelling and grammar these days. I'm actually going back and reading over the chapter, but still, because I've just spent the last few hours writing the chapter, I tend to skim parts and miss some of my mistakes.

If you see any, just pretend they're not there. ^_^

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 10

The Headlines

"Here's the estimated time line of the Genji project, the one I consulted you about yesterday?"

"Yes, I remember." Naraku thoughtfully chewed his pen as he watched Sesshomaru across the desk. Sesshomaru may have been founder of their corporation but Naraku was manager to Sesshomaru's management of the computing company. "Have you got the details worked out?"

"Of course." Sesshomaru read from his planner, following the lines with his biro. "The actual work phase will last about three days…"

"I see…"

"Then I'll spend about two or three weeks meeting with representatives from our suppliers because you're too lazy to see them yourself." Sesshomaru flipped the page. "Then I'll spend a week in Cyprus to tackle the nervous breakdown that will be coming on right about then… back again for six more weeks trying to remind you of the things we discussed here today and trying to make you understand the complex issues regarding this project. Then out of spite because my secretary is prettier than yours, you'll cut my funding, rearrange my department and shut down the project."

"Mm hm." Naraku nodded to show he followed (though if truth be known his eyes had glazed over somewhere around the word 'representatives').

"At which point I'll jump to my death from this office window, a bitter shadow of the man I once was." Sesshomaru closed his planner and looked across at Naraku with hooded eyes. No, he didn't particularly like his only boss.

Naraku blinked back. "Should I be doing some motivational pep-talking right about now?"

Sesshomaru sighed and opened his planner, making a few final notes and calculations. "If I time my leap right you'll just be leaving the building…"

There was a knock on the door and Naraku looked up to see Rin the secretary scurry inside, Sesshomaru didn't have to look up to know it was her. "Mr Sesshomaru sir, I just got a call from your PA – she says it's Agent."

"Urgent." Sesshomaru corrected her without looking up from his doodle of Naraku hanging by the neck in a set of gallows with crosses for eyes.

"Oh – urgent, yes, urgent." Rin agreed hastily. "She says it regards Fushira Hashimoto."

Sesshomaru's pen froze on his planner. "Fushira… Hashimoto?"

"Yes, that's what she said." Rin nodded hard.

"Are you certain?"

"Um…" Rin consulted her post-it. "Yes, yes, Mr Fushira Hashimoto… or it could Furry Honda Motors…"

Sesshomaru waved a hand at her. "Thank you, Rin, that'll be all."

"You're welcome." She piped and pickled off out the door again. Sesshomaru set down his pen slowly and looked up at Naraku. "Can I use your phone? I need to call my brother's agent."

~*~

"So how's your week been so far?"

"Ok, I guess." Kagome spoke into the phone to her mother as she browsed the contents of her new wardrobe. She had more clothes in there than she knew what to do with… deciding what to wear was becoming increasingly difficult. "I'm still holding out for Saturday when I can come home again."

"Don't be in such a rush. You're friends tell me that Yuka is ready to murder you when you arrive back." Her mother told her with a laugh.

"Is she still mad that she put my name in the draw?" Kagome pulled down a pair of hipster jeans and a cream jumper.

"Only a little."

"How's Souta?"

"Idolising Inuyasha more than usual."

Kagome sighed, wishing that her brother didn't feel that way. There was really nothing about Inuyasha that deserved idolising… "And Grandpa?"

"Still wondering where you are and who Inuyasha is." Her mother laughed. "But how are you getting along with Inuyasha? Last time we spoke you said you couldn't stand him."

"Oh, he's not all bad." Kagome said, realising she meant it as she said it. "I mean… he's not overly mean and cruel… just a bit lazy, unpredictable, volatile, unreliable and disturbed – very, _very _disturbed."

"Oh." Her mother sounded slightly surprised. "But you are being tolerant, aren't you, Kagome?"

"What's the supposed to mean?" It sounded like her mother was being reproving there.

"Well usually when you have friction with people, which thankfully isn't very often, you tend to butt heads with them rather than try and compromise." Mrs Higurashi told her honestly. "You _are _trying to compromise like I told you, aren't you?"

"You told me to change him!"

"And have you made any headway with that?"

Kagome tutted loudly with a sigh. "I told you. His skull's too thick. And I'm learning that head-butting that walnut isn't getting either of us anywhere. Oh… by the way I've been meaning to ask…"

"Yes, dear?"

Kagome knew it was a long shot, a _very long_ long shot, but it was worth a try. "Yuka's been an Inuyasha enthusiast since she saw him shopping with his mother when she was a kid, right?"

"Oh yes. A story that she never tires of telling people." Her mother agreed.

"Well, then can you ask her if she heard anything happening in 1992 involving Inuyasha? If there was one person who would remember every year of his life, it would be her." Kagome told her. "So can you ask her for me?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?"

"I… uh…" she didn't want to say that she was deliberately being snubbed from the topic of 92 by the crew there at the villa. If she told her mother, she would then righteously _not _ask Yuka thinking that Kagome was prying (which she was, but Mrs Higurashi didn't need to know that). "He's busy right now." She eventually lied.

"I'll ask her. Anyhow… I hope they're feeding you well there – but then I'll see for myself tonight." Her mother said.

"Tonight?" What was tonight?

"It's Thursday today - the award's evening? Aren't you going with Inuyasha?" 

Kagome had completely forgotten with the last three days of excitement. "You're right…"

~*~

"Did you know that the school girl could play piano?" Inuyasha asked Miroku idly at the breakfast table. The older boy glanced across at him thoughtfully, still chewing his toast.

"Sure. I saw her playing in the classic room a few nights ago." Miroku admitted before going back to his morning crossword puzzle in the newspaper. "Which reminds me, Sango wants you to put microphones in each room – we couldn't hear what she was playing. What made you ask?"

"No reason," Inuyasha rolled the nuts he'd taken out of his muffin around his plate. "Only… I heard her play last night."

"Really?" Miroku didn't look up from his puzzle. "What did she play?"

"I dunno…" Inuyasha frowned as he tried to remember the eerie melody that she'd played from the night before, but it still eluded him. He stopped playing with his leftovers as he tried to think back to what he'd felt. "It was weird… like this mood that passes over you, it made me sad and confused… the sound just creeps through you…"

Miroku stared openly at him. "So she's good?"

He shrugged and went back to messing with the muffin crumbs. "She's alright I guess…"

"She sing?"

Inuyasha shook his head half-heartedly.

Miroku smiled slightly and went back to his crossword just as Kikyo entered. As usual she was skipping breakfast in favour of being a workaholic. Inuyasha frowned as she came to a stop behind his place at the table. "What?"

"I need to have a word with you…" she glanced briefly at Miroku. "In private."

Miroku raised his eyebrows at her but she ignored him, watching Inuyasha closely instead. Inuyasha merely shot Miroku a disgruntled before standing and following Kikyo to the other side of the room. Even though he'd been pointedly snubbed, it didn't stop Miroku from straining to try and catch what the agent whispered in the superstar's ear, or from trying to decipher what she was saying from the changing expression on Inuyasha's face.

He watched closely with a frown as he saw Inuyasha's morning scowl slowly fade into blank shock. When Kikyo stopped talking and stepped back, trying to gouge his reaction as much as Miroku, he began to look angry…

"No… no… that can't happen…" Even Miroku could hear Inuyasha as his voice rose in volume. "No – they can't do that!"

Kikyo just shrugged helplessly. She looked apologetic. "I can't do anything about it, Inuyasha."

Miroku's frown increased as Inuyasha started growing frantic. "They can't – no – I won't-!" for a moment it looked as though he were about to grab Kikyo and shake her, but somehow he managed to restrain himself and with one last agonised look at Miroku, he practically fled out of the breakfast room.

Kikyo cleared her throat slightly and straightened her jacket before looking over at Miroku, realising he was staring at her with intense scrutiny. "What?"

"What the hell did you say to him?" he demanded angrily, slightly shocked at witnessing Inuyasha lose it so fast… though it wouldn't have been the first time that kind of thing had happened.

Kikyo just shrugged slightly – her way of saying it was none of his business. "I better make sure he doesn't go do something he'll regret later." She said in a low voice and walked out after Inuyasha, at a slightly more hurried pace.

Miroku sighed deeply and went back to reading his newspaper, mildly wondering what had crawled up both their arses. It was only when he turned back to the front page of the paper that he found his answer…

"Ah…" he said.

~*~

Kagome descended the steps that morning with a click in her heel and an all around feel-good feeling. She was energised, she was happy (now that she had spoken with her loving mother) and she was determined not to let Inuyasha get to her today.

That was until she bumped into him as she turned the corner towards the breakfast room. "Watch where you're going, bitch!" he barked in her face and shoved her aside so he could keep moving, leaving Kagome stumbled with only the wall to catch her from falling to the floor.

"What the hell's your problem?!" she shouted after him angrily, hands bracing with clenched fingers against the wall. "PMS again?!"

Ok. That little vow that Inuyasha would not ruin her day was quickly disregarded. Her day had officially been wrecked thanks to the creep now angrily storming up the stairs she'd previously come down. She made an irritated sound in her throat and pushed herself back upright again with a huff. The nerve of that guy…

Kikyo bumped into her next – except the agent was slightly less brutal about it and apologised absently to her. Kagome watched her disappear up the steps with growing confusion before deciding that it was probably none of her business (for once) and carried on to breakfast.

Miroku was the only person left sitting at the table reading an article in the newspaper, everyone else had eaten and gotten on with the work day. She, being a late-riser, now had to scrounge up a decent breakfast out of what was left. She eventually settled for half a bowl of soggy fruit. As she began slurping down her peach slices she glanced up at Miroku who seemed to be reading with a lot more concentration than he usually exacted in anything he did. "What are you reading?" she asked.

"The man…" Miroku started slowly as he set down the paper and slid it towards her so she could read. "The man who killed Inuyasha's parents has been granted an appeal that could spring him out of jail twenty-five years too early."

Kagome swallowed hard as she dropped her spoon back into the bowl and grabbed the paper to read the headline.

"Evidence of Prime Minister's Death Due to be Re-examined…?" Kagome frowned in confusion. "Fushira Hashimoto, 43, who six years ago received a life sentence of imprisonment for the murder of the former Prime Minister and his wife… is due to receive an appeal in court next week…" Kagome read down in silence for a moment or two. "He's claiming it was manslaughter whilst driving under the influence of alcohol…" she looked up at Miroku. "Since when were Inuyasha's parents _murdered_? I thought they died in a car crash."

"They did." Miroku pointed at the picture of the fairly average looking man beside the article. "But guess whose truck crushed their car against the lorry in front of them?"

"That's terrible…" She gazed at the man in the picture with a mixture of feelings. "Inuyasha was only eleven and his parents were killed by this – this drunk fool?"

Miroku sighed. "It was murder, not drunk driving. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I was in that court the day they declared him guilty… no way that man didn't do it deliberately. He wasn't even sorry."

Maybe this was why Inuyasha had been so upset. Great… now she felt bad for lashing back at him. She felt like the bad guy all of a sudden. "They can't possibly let him get out of jail for doing something like that…"

"They might… depends on the court now." He stood up and retrieved the newspaper. "If he says he's sorry and acts all guilty then they might decide six years was all he needed and let him go free."

Kagome sighed deeply and glumly pushed her dribbling fruit around the bowl, suddenly very disheartened in what should have been her good day. Miroku smiled compassionately at her and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. "I'm sure Inuyasha will be glad to know you sympathise."

"He'll take it as pity and hate me for it." She told him quietly.

"Then you are getting to know him better than I do." Miroku said and left her to eat her breakfast in peace.

Kagome spent a few minutes mulling over the headlines of the newspaper, unwillingly beginning to feel bad for Inuyasha. She tried to imagine how she would feel if her parents had been murdered by someone at the tender age of eleven. Eleven was old enough to remember for life, old enough to feel the loss more deeply than a younger child, but it was also too young an age to be able to handle the loss alone like an adult might be able to.

She'd once had a dream that her mother had died from getting caught between a automatically closing garage door… she'd woken up crying and had been scared witless of it happening in real life for the rest of the week. It had terrified her until she'd realised that it had only been a dream.

For Inuyasha, Kagome's greatest fear was a reality. From what he'd already told her, losing his parents had almost driven him to suicide. What could he be going through now? Now that their apparent killer was appealing for a release. Kagome hadn't missed the part where the article had pointed out that they expected the sons, Inuyasha and Sesshomaru, to give testimony at the appeal.

That was when Kagome decided that she had to go talk to him. She pushed away from the table and set a brisk pace for the first floor bedroom, room 6, where Inuyasha had last been seen heading to. No one was around when she arrived there, and she looked around hesitantly, expecting Kikyo to jump out from behind a bin and tell her off for annoying the almighty Inuyasha. But nothing happened… so she cautiously knocked on the door.

She got no answer.

She knocked again, a little louder, wondering if he was even in there.

She still got no answer.

So once again, she knocked. "Inuyasha, I know you're in there. Please open the door." If he was in there, he'd open the door, knowing he hadn't fooled her. If he wasn't… then no one would be any the wiser that she'd talked to an empty room.

Fortunately her bluff worked and she heard footsteps within. In a moment the door was open and Inuyasha was looking down at her expectantly. He didn't seem so upset now. "Do you want something?"

"Uh…" Kagome was thrown for a loop now… she'd come to see if… well… she didn't know what she'd come to see him for. But she'd expected him to be upset and angry… but he was evidently fine. "I saw the headlines of the newspaper…"

He frowned and glanced up and then back down at her. "And that means… what, to me?"

Hadn't he read the paper? "About Fushira Hashimoto appealing for-"

"Oh that!" he suddenly laughed. "Yeah, I know about that. Kikyo told me."

She stared at him. "Are you ok… with that, I mean?"

He shrugged. "Sure." He gave her a vague shake of the head. "I don't care about that anymore. I mean, why should I give a shit that he murdered my parents in cold blood because my father's policy cut his wages by a hundred yen a month when he'd… already…" he trailed off, looking like he was getting a headache. "And why do I keep telling you these things?" he shook a finger at her. "You're good, you're very good."

He slammed the door in her face.

Kagome remained rooted to the spot, quickly realising that perhaps he wasn't as alright as he seemed. She tentatively raised her hand again and knocked on the door quietly.

It opened and he looked down at her expectantly, once more wearing that 'everything's fine and normal with me' façade. "Back again so soon?"

Her brow lowered slightly and she folded her arms slowly. "That's not going to work on me, you know. You can smile and pretend you're fine, but I know that it's all just a mask."

He stared at her. "Oh, right…" he nodded as if taking what she'd said into deliberately. "So now what do you want me to do? Start crying like a little baby and tell you all my troubles in the world? All the troubles that I hide behind my little mask?"

"There's no need to get sarcastic…" she scowled. "I just came to see if you wanted to talk."

"If I ever wanted to talk – if I ever _really _wanted to talk I would go talk to someone. But the last person in the world that I'd to talk to would be you." He folded his arms, mirroring her pose as he leant against the door frame.

Kagome mentally cursed his stubbornness. He might not want to talk, but perhaps talking would help him. Cook had told her that he never talked to anyone… well, not about the stuff that mattered. Whatever had been bothering him since he was a child was still there, and he was still refusing to rid himself of the burden, refusing to get it off his chest and talk about it.

It would fester and rot inside him for the rest of his life, if he kept it hidden behind his 'nothing's wrong' expression. It would turn him bad from the inside… in fact it already had.

"So how's the view from your balcony then?" she slipped through the gap between him and the door faster than he could react to. "Wow, it's very big in here, much bigger than your last room." She moved over to the window and cocked her head. "Oh, very nice… you can't see the beach from here, the cliff blocks out all the people and gives that impression of being in the quiet countryside."

"What are you doing?" he drawled from the doorway, having turned to follow her progress.

"Just… checking out the view…" she moved her eyes to his four poster canopy bed. "And… checking out your mattress." She walked over and sat down with a plop on the bed and smiled widely. "Wow – is this one of those mattresses designed by NASA to stop you getting back problems?"

"Feathers actually." He kicked the door close with his foot and came to lean on one of the bed's posts. Kagome tried not to worry too much about him having shut the door… at least he wasn't kicking her out. She braced herself in case he tried anything on with her.

"Mm. Feathers. Not my thing." She shook her head. "I think feathers belong on the bird."

"I don't think the bird really cares where it's feathers go when it gets killed to be put on a plate for Sunday dinner." Inuyasha said nonchalantly.

Kagome glanced back at him, trying to decipher what his expression meant, but once again it was unreadable and blank. She turned to look across to the window instead. "I had this dream once where my Mom died and-"

"Let me guess, you woke up crying and now you understand what losing your parents is like?" he laughed caustically as he moved to sit on the opposite side of the bed to her, their backs to one another. "Oh please."

"No… what I meant is that I wouldn't understand. I can't imagine what it's like to have both your parents die on you and leave you with no one in the world. I wouldn't know what it's like to… to have someone angry enough to murder the people you love like that…"

Inuyasha was quiet, but she felt the bed bounce slightly as he fell backwards to lie flat on the quilt cover behind her.

"Look, I know you find me annoying and too out-spoken, but I think you need to listen to someone for once." She turned to look down at him. "Cook told me that you never told anyone about what happened in 1992… and you're still carrying those memories and keeping them to yourself. I'm not asking you to spill your guts or anything, but you may want to think about talking to someone about what happened… someone you know and trust… Miroku? Or Sango? Maybe your brother?"

He made a ghost of a shrug. "Why should I tell them? They already know what happened."

"Who told them?"

"Everyone here knew. They didn't get their juicy little details until the police turned up and told my parents who went around telling everyone."

It still bugged her that she still didn't have a clue what had happened back then. "Well you may feel better if you tell them yourself."

"No I won't."

"You don't know that for sure because you've never told anyone."

"Kaede had this wonderful teaching." He told her, arm still strewn across his face. "She said that whenever you felt angry or sad or bitter or scared you should push all your negative feelings into a tight little ball and force it into the soles of your feet."

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Where it will rot and destroy you from the inside out."

"That's what she said as well…" he smirked slightly, but his voice sounded strange. "She never really liked me."

Kagome wondered why Kaede would tell him something like that as a beat of silence passed in the room. She let her guard down slightly, sure that he was beyond trying to make a move on her now.

"Did Cook tell you what happened in 1992?" he said in that thin, strained voice.

Kagome looked back down at him curiously, put at a disadvantage now that she couldn't see his face. "No… it's not my place to know."

"I can't tell cook." Inuyasha went on. "She's too old… too close to the family."

That was a stupid excuse in Kagome's opinion.

"I couldn't talk to Miroku about it. He's my friend… but not close enough to be a friend to confide in. Not Sango… she takes orders too easily, too careful about keeping her job I suppose. She gets as frustrated with me as you do though…"

Was he going somewhere with this?

"Not Sesshomaru… he's the worst brother in the world. He doesn't care about my well-being – just his image. Not Kaede because she hates me. And I wouldn't tell my parents because they kept pressuring me to do what you're pressuring me to do now." He dropped his arm back to his side and gave her a melting smile. "Which means I won't be telling you either, darling."

Damn… he'd sounded like he was leading up to the big confession as well. Kagome held on to her patience and tolerance like her mother had advised. "I'm not forcing you to tell me…" _Though I wish you would just spit it out for your own sanity as well as mine…_

"You told me to listen… I think I'll listen to Kaede and just keep my mouth shut." He sat up and turned to face her, looking appreciative. "But I admit, you almost had me there. But don't think for one second that I doubt you won't go running to the press the instant you learn what happened."

Kagome was genuinely stung. "I don't expect you to trust me – but I'm not ruthless enough to do that kind of thing!"

"Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. I don't really know you, so I don't really know what you'd do either. Plus, I don't really care enough to tell you."

__

What a load of… Kagome steeled her thoughts and took a deep breath. "Fine… you don't have to tell me. But I better warn you that I'll find out eventually."

"Sounds like a threat." He raised en eyebrow at her.

"It's just a warning. I'll find out on my own, or you can just come to me and tell me in your own time – which I think will be better for both of us in the long-run."

"I feel like you want me to admit some sort of crime."

"You didn't kill anyone in 92, did you?" she pounced on the hint at once, even though she knew he was being sarcastic.

He visibly flinched at her suggestion. "I never killed anyone… in 1992…" Kagome stared at him openly, watching his unguarded expression slowly slide into a distant look. Now what did _that _mean?

"Inuyasha…?" she frowned slightly. "You look like you're about to cry."

"Good boys don't cry… they don't tell tales…" he said in a flat, monotone voice. His eyes came back into focus and he gave her a stony look. "Are you satisfied yet – or do I have to throw you out of my bedroom?"

"I can find my own way." She gave a loud sigh and stood up, heading for the door. "Try not to let Hashimoto upset you too much."

"It's not him that's upset me." Inuyasha said darkly. Kagome glanced back at him at she reached the door. She half wanted to go back and try to coax something out of him again. She didn't know why but she had an odd feeling that maybe if Inuyasha just opened up a bit more to someone… _anyone _he wouldn't be such a difficult person to be around. He was too busy keeping himself on that pedestal away from the rest of the world that he was having trouble communicating with it.

"I'll see you at the awards then." She said quietly and shut the door gently after her as she left.

Inuyasha sullenly glared at the window, his jaw clenching tightly in a growing irritation that he was struggling to contain.

Stupid girl… butting in on matters that simply didn't have anything to do with her! She'd angered him this time… no, frightened him more like, because he had been on the verge of telling her everything. Telling her from the beginning to the end and then… and then what?

He could see that her dislike in him was causing her to try and change him… that scared him because he didn't know what person she wanted him to change into? He still had no idea what he wanted, what his future held… he still had no idea who he was. Who he should be?

It was strange… his identity crisis had hung over his head like a cold shadow, blocking out the sun, ever since he was six. But only in the last week had it all been brought to a painful focus that he just didn't want to deal with… he _couldn't _deal with it. It was just too soon.

But _Kagome _was not going to be dissuaded from having her way with him till Saturday…

~*~

"So nothing happened in 1992?" Kagome frowned as she ran her fingers in a pattern over the carpet of her bedroom. "Absolutely nothing?"

"Nothing whatsoever." Yuka told her over the phone. 

Kagome pulled her hand back onto the bed and rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "That's impossible – something _big _happened in 1992. There must be some mention of it somewhere."

"92 is officially the quietest year Inuyasha has ever had, apparently." Yuka sounded very sure of herself as she said this. Kagome had to believe the expert. "There was absolutely no news or gossip about him or the family that year. His father had just finished his term as prime minister and was having a quiet period – his mother went of the modelling scene for quite a few months. There was no real action from these guys until early 1993 when Inuyasha was announced to be taking lessons in some sort of violent style of kick-boxing."

"So you could say that '92 was a suspicious quiet year then…" Kagome said more to herself than Yuka.

"Well anyway – don't forget to give us a shout out tonight when you go on telly! And don't forget to come back with Inuyasha's autograph – he can make it out to Yuka Sato."

Kagome smiled and laughed. "Ok. I won't forget. It's the least I can do for you."

There came a knock on the door and Kagome glanced up. "Oh, I better go, there's someone at the door."

"Is it Inuyasha?!"

Somehow Kagome doubted that. "No, it's probably just Sango. Bye, Yuka."

"Bye – and say hi to Inuyasha for me!"

"Will do." Kagome hung up before she could make anymore requests. She set the phone back in its cradle and hopped off the bed to go answer the door. Her suspicions were proven correct as Sango slipped into the room without invitation and a box under her arm.

"Guess what I've got!" Sango said mysteriously as she set the box down on the bed.

"A bomb? Does it tick? I don't want a repeat of what happened upstairs down here." Kagome eyes the flat box sceptically.

"Don't be silly, look!" Sango flipped the lid off and pulled out the dress from within. "It's your dress for the award's!"

Kagome's breath caught as she stared at the dress in shock. "You… you want me to wear that?"

"Mm hm." Sango held the dress up beside her own body to let Kagome see it's full extent. "We knew that, because you're only fifteen, we can't have you flouncing up the red carpet with a little bit of tissue over each nipple that most of the women will be doing. Miroku said you wouldn't mind, but I thought you'd prefer something more substantial than that."

It was a beautiful dress, Kagome had to give it that. In fact… it looked too beautiful, too intricate in its design and stitching to have been made in just a few days. "Did they make it for me?"

"Well…" Sango shrugged and forcefully passed the dress onto her. "Actually, it belonged to Inuyasha's mother. She only wore it once, at one of the prestigious shows – she took it down the catwalk and back and never wore it again. She's roughly you're size… a little taller and narrower in the hip maybe, but the tailor made a few adjustments to fit you so it should be all right."

"Will Inuyasha be ok with me wearing this?" Kagome ran her hands over the dark red, veil-like lace that served as the cover for the red silk dress beneath. It only one sleeve that flared out at the wrist, the other side was just a strap that went around the upper arm. Kagome was sure she'd never worn anything as bizarre as that before.

"He probably won't even recognise it – his mother wouldn't." Sango smiled. "Plus, I think red might suit you. And… it's Inuyasha's favourite colour."

Still… somehow, Kagome had the feeling that wearing this _red _dress that used to belong to his _mother _would simply serve as the red flag of the matador. She had a feeling he'd take one look at her and give her merry hell all evening.

But still… it was a beautiful dress.

AN: I can't believe it… 1,0 reviews before chapter ten? Thank you so much to everyone on ff.net who's reviewed so far! I appreciate it a lot ^_^


	11. For Best Performance

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Author's Notes: I know a lot of people don't think so, but I do actually read all my reviews. If you think about it I average in at about just over a hundred per chapter and which builds up over a couple of days so in truth I'm not exactly flooded over my head with reviews and it's easy to read twenty or so a day – and I really do enjoy reading them so it's not hard work! And don't worry about bothering me with long reviews – I love them the most ^_^

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Dead Famous

Chapter 11

For Best Performance…

"Inuyasha's been nominated for how many awards?"

"Just three this year." Sango replied breezily as she pinned the loose material of the red dress at Kagome's waist, determined to get it as chic as possible under it's layer of red gauze. "Last year he was nominated for five, but he only won four."

"My god…" Kagome rested her elbow on top of Sango's head as the girl worked (the only comfortable place for it to go). "What does he do to deserve these awards then?"

"Well this year he's been nominated for the people's choice award, again."

"Which one's that?" Kagome was still a little ignorant when it came to the world of stars and celebrities. She'd never watched an award's ceremony in her life. They were always too boring.

"People's choice is the people's choice." Sango shrugged vaguely. "It's not a very specific award, seeing as how anyone can be nominated, from the man in the post office to the Emperor… providing they have enough votes to be nominated in the first place. It's just the popularity award."

"Has Inuyasha ever won it before?"

"Seven times."

"Wow…" Kagome wondered what it would be like to be that popular… but once again, some things were a little beyond her grasp, and she'd always been a little short on imagination.

"Then there's the award for best stunt co-ordinator slash performer." Sango finished fiddling with the material at her waist before straightened and beginning work on her shoulders. The former owner of this dress had also owned broader shoulders, and whilst the tailor had done a good job taking the hems up, there were still a few adjustments to be made.

Kagome was just plain worried about how Inuyasha would react to her wearing one of his own mother's dresses. In order to keep her mind from such troubles, she tried to keep her thoughts on the awards. "So Inuyasha does stunt work?"

"With _his_ body it would be a wonder if he didn't. He can lift more weight than ten people – and still manages to keep his body trimmer than Schwarzenegger's. The producers can save thousands from their budget when they can use Inuyasha's strength instead of special effects and good editing. He can take more bumps and bruises than your average stunt-man, run fast, fight fast-"

"Ok, I get the picture." Kagome squeezed her eyes shut as she remember Inuyasha's last display of how fast he fought. It still brought a wave of sickness over her. It was so violent…

"And because he heals fast with no disfiguring scars, he can work twice as hard and longer than anyone else."

"So what's the third nomination?" Kagome asked as Sango finished on her shoulder and began pulling her poker straight hair back into a stylishly messy bun at the back of her head (Sango had insisted on going over her mop with an iron earlier on).

"Third nomination is for the youngest semi-finalist of boxing for the past ten years."

"Semi-finalist?" Kagome echoed with a frown, her head being pulled in all directions thanks to Sango's brutal handling of her hair.

"Well, he doesn't always win the championship, but he has always made it into the semi-finals since he first took part." Sango sighed. "This year he's up against Kouga again for the award…"

"Oh… so Kouga's going to be there as well?" Kagome felt a knot twist in her stomach. She hoped she didn't have to meet him… or shake hands with him. She wondered what he would do when he found out that she was Inuyasha's little 'guest'. She wondered if he wanted pay-back for that Russian massage she'd given him. If he could find it in himself to try and poison Inuyasha, what would stop him from doing the same to her?

"There. Beautiful!" Sango stepped back and tweaked her cheek to get some colour. "Now come on, we better get down to the limo if we want to be fashionably late instead of just-missed-the-whole-damn-thing late."

It was amazing how dressing up in a pretty dress and putting on a little make-up could do wonders for your self-esteem. Kagome felt particularly good about herself as she trotted after Sango.

They took the stairs down to the main foyer and were greeted by the majority of the entourage that would be accompanying them to the evening. She was beginning to recognise some of them by now. Over there was the girl who styled Inuyasha's hair on week days – beside her was the guy who picked out Inuyasha's clothes each morning. Over to the left of the gathered crowd stood Kikyo and her mobile phone, she stood apart from Miroku who was deep in conversation with the guy who was officially Inuyasha's 'fan-man' – meaning he carried around one of those electric fans wherever he went in case his star started to feel a little over-heated. Ah… and there was the girl gave him a facial every third morning.

There was a lot of over-kill here…

"We'll be putting you in the front limousine with Inuyasha. The rest of us will follow on behind."

"We're _all _going to the awards?"

"Inuyasha's entourage is expected to follow him wherever he goes, but don't worry, they'll be backstage most of the time so they won't get under your feet." Sango turned suddenly as her apparent sixth sense picked up her boss. "And here's the man of the hour."

Kagome glanced over her shoulder towards the stairs and gulped slightly. Inuyasha jogged down them casually, looking slightly smarter than usual. Sango leaned towards her. "I tried to make him wear a tie but he wouldn't let me put anything around his neck."

Inuyasha's gaze flicked up and settled on Kagome.

__

Here it comes, she thought as she mentally braced herself for the worst_, he'll explode and we'll be late and he'll make a big deal and…_

"Nice dress, twiggy." He patted her one-sleeved arm as he passed her, then announced to everyone else in a slightly louder voice. "Let's get moving, we're late!"

The entourage packed out through the open front entrance, leaving Kagome standing alone with Sango. "Twiggy?" she frowned, trying to comprehend why she deserved _that _nickname in particular.

"Come on then." Sango took her shoulder and ushered her out of the door and down the steps.

The sky was getting increasingly dark as evening rolled around quickly. They were due to arrive at the awards at nine o'clock, and it was already eight thirty. Kagome picked up her pace as she headed for the limo ahead of the others. The door was held open by one of the black suit bodyguards and closed behind her once she was safely inside.

"Do you want a coke?" Inuyasha asked at once, holding out a can.

"Depends…" she eyed it suspiciously. "Have you put cyanide in it?"

"Sealed can. I thought you'd notice if the cap was broken." He tossed it towards her and she caught it with a fluke grace that she normally didn't posses.

"Nice catch." He complimented as he cracked open his own can and took a sip.

Kagome held her drink in her lap as she watched him closely, wondering why he wasn't growling at her and sharpening his claws like she'd expected. She was even wearing his mother's dress, and he still hadn't reacted… or perhaps he just hadn't noticed it.

With a tiny sigh she lifted the can and snapped the tab to open it… and promptly got showered with foam. "Oh for – you shook my can!" she barked at him, seeing him shaking with poorly suppressed laughter. "Obviously you haven't forgiven me for royally pissing you off earlier…"

"Obviously." He said pleasantly. "And I'm just going to keep smiling at you because I know that if I let my guard down and snap at you, you will snap back and probably provoke me into strangling you in this very limo. I don't want your death on my hands, so just smile back and we should be ok."

If he'd been speaking another language and she'd not understand what he'd said, she would have thought he were saying nice things to her. Evidently not. "You're mad at me…?" she asked reproachfully.

"Ballistically so," he carried on smiling. "I've never been so pissed off with anyone in my entire life, twiggy."

"Why are you calling me twiggy?" She set down her coke on the little built-in table and flicked the liquid off her wet fingers. "Or have you still not learnt my name yet?"

"Well, that and the fact that you kinda remind me of a twig in that dress."

"What, this dress?" Kagome felt her panic rise a little.

"What other dress are you wearing?" he rolled his eyes at her. He looked the dress over critically for a moment. "You know… wearing that dress you kinda look like a model."

Now that made Kagome's thought processes freeze in their tracks. "Is that… is that a compliment?"

"Not really, no." he shrugged nonchalantly. "I think some look pretty… most look hungry." He wrinkled his nose. "Models aren't my taste. They get picked out because they have the best body to show off strange, weird clothes. Almost all of them are taller than me, have bigger feet than me, broad shoulders, no breasts and the sulkiest faces in the world. They look like their faces would shatter if they gave the tiniest smiles."

"Well, you seem to date enough of them to know." She averted her gaze out of the window before realising something. "Hey – are you saying I have big feet and no breasts?!"

"I called you twiggy didn't I?" he said pointedly and also averted his gaze out of the tinted window.

Well… at least he hadn't noticed the dress was one of his mother's own. She wasn't sure how he would react to that, and she didn't really want to test him either. She rapped her nails against her coke can and patiently watched the window. She couldn't see out since the tint on the window was simply too dark. But it also meant that no one would be able to see inside either.

"How many awards have you won in total then?" she asked suddenly.

"Sixteen." He said bluntly. "Out of the thirty-four nominations."

"Where do you keep them?"

"With the rest of the junk that I never look at – in the classic room…" he slid a speculative gaze towards her. "With the piano."

"Oh." Kagome nodded in understanding and turned her eyes back to the window, unaware of his scrutiny. 

It was a few minutes more until the sound of the crowd reached her ears. Kagome strained to see outside. "I think we're here…"

The limo was slowing down to a crawling pace and Kagome realised just how close they were to the crowds when she wound down the window. They were right next to the vehicle, held back only by a temporary metal barricade that kept the crowds off the road.

"It's her – it's Kagome!"

"Inuyasha – Inuyasha!"

And so started a sudden outburst of screaming. Kagome ducked back suddenly as half a dozen single roses hurled themselves through the open window. "Jesus-"

The window wound up again and Kagome glanced up at Inuyasha who had his finger on the button. "You might not want to try that again." He advised with a patronising smile. "They're like ravenous wolves. Once they recognise you they will descend on you and tear you apart."

"They're your fans, not wolves." Kagome sighed irritably and picked up one of the roses that had fallen into the car. "They love you, so I doubt they'd want to eat you."

"You'd be surprised." Inuyasha shrugged, making no move to help Kagome pick up the roses that she arranged in a bunch on the seat next to her.

The car lurched forward another hundred yards and came to a complete stop. The tinted glass divider to the drivers' compartment rattled as someone knocked on it from the other side. Inuyasha beckoned her to come closer to his side of the limo. When she gave him a hard glare to show her reluctance he simply rolled his eyes. "We're here. Do you want to get out of the limo or not?"

"Oh right…" She shuffled across the leather seats towards his end.

The limo door opened and Kagome was instantly blinded by the overwhelming number of hot white flashes from outside. She felt Inuyasha's hand bracing against her back, urging her to get out, and she did so, but only in order to get his hand off of her.

She smiled as best she could, but it was hard when she didn't know what she was supposed to look at or smile at. The red carpet was wide, leading from the pavement curb where she stood to the entrance of the building they would enter. It was only thirty metres or so to the doors. On an average day that distance was nothing… but tonight when everyone was watching every step she took, where she heard both men and women, girls and boys, calling her name as if they knew her. Questions fired at her from every angle, requests for autographs, Kagome was overwhelmed. What was she supposed to do?

Kagome probably would have stood there and floundered all night if Inuyasha hadn't given her a gentle nudge further up the red carpet to make room for him to get out of the limo. The black suit bodyguard shut the limo door and the vehicle peeled away, leaving Kagome with no place to take shelter from the crowd and all the photographers with their camera flashes.

"Keep smiling." Inuyasha said cheerfully in her ear and promptly pulled her arm out and looped it through his. Kagome's smile disappeared in an instant as she shot a stubborn glare down at their entwined arms.

"Do you mind?" she hissed.

"It's the only way to keep you walking. Now _smile_." He hissed back threateningly. Kagome grudgingly tightened her arm as painfully as she could around his as if trying to crush it. The smile returned to her face and they started off down the carpet.

Every now and then Inuyasha would drag her off to the sidelines where the fans were held back by the barricades to sign a few autographs. Most of them wanted his autograph, but a few die-hards were desperate enough to ask Kagome a for hers. She gave it in bewilderment, still only just coming to grasps with the fact that so many people knew her face and her name (unlike the certain superstar clinging to her arm).

"Don't get a big head now," he warned quietly as he jerked her to a stop to pose for a few pictures. "They'll forget you even exist after Saturday."

Ouch.

The time it took them to get across that thirty metres to the entrance of the theatre was ridiculous. Kagome could have walked it in ten seconds… but right then it took them over fifteen minutes to get inside.

Kagome tagged along behind Inuyasha as they were greeted by the host, the guy who owned the building, a few rich members of the upper class society that had managed to get tickets to the awards event. Kagome inwardly groaned in boredom as Inuyasha pulled her along, deeper into the building, following the main hallway with the red carpet that the other guests seemed to be trailing along. When in doubt; follow the sheep.

"How long is this going to take?" She said in a low voice.

"You bored already?" he retorted.

"Out of my skull."

He sighed, then surprised her by saying. "So am I."

Kagome glanced up at him in surprise, but then got distracted when a girl suddenly drew alongside them. "Inuyasha?" They both glanced at her, both of them clicking recognition and Kagome couldn't contain her gasp.

"Y-you're Joi Ito!" Kagome said, knowing she stated the obvious. Only because Joi happened to be her most favrouritest favourite of the favourite musical artist _ever_!

Joi's smile was more nervous and polite than Kagome had expected it to be. "Hello, you must be Kagome Higurashi."

__

She knows my name! Kagome wanted to cry – but only out of sheer happiness. "I have to tell you right now that I am a huge fan of your work, I think you're wonderfully talented and creative. You're so original and I'm so happy to meet you!"

"Thank you," Joi seemed genuinely delighted as they shook hands. "And it's a pleasure meeting you too. I'm surprised you like my music."

"Oh, but I love it." Kagome reassured her, vowing that she would probably never wash her hand again. "I love how you mix classical with rock – it's wonderful."

"Thank you." Joi smiled even wider than before and switched her gaze to Inuyasha. "You picked the right fan to spend a week with."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you." He said loftily, looking thoroughly bored.

"I didn't get the chance to make your acquaintance better the last time we met," Joi stuck her hand out to Inuyasha. "Joi Ito."

"Inuyasha." No last name, that was his trademark. He shook her hand once and smiled slightly. Kagome could already see the dawning expression of realisation in his eyes as he began to notice just how pretty Joi was. She almost wanted to turn to the other girl and scream 'Run Joi! Run!'

"Well I won't keep you." Joi left them to it and they both watched her leave to go talk to more arriving guests.

"She's certainly prettier than her pictures in the magazines." Inuyasha commented.

"You leave her alone." Kagome nudged him hard in the side. "She's my favourite artist – I don't want you laying your filthy hands on her."

"My filthy hands are no where near her." Inuyasha responded grumpily. "Now come on, the hall's this way."

He dragged her after the other guests that were all heading towards the set of doors at the very end of the corridor which led into a darker room. When Kagome followed Inuyasha through she realised that this was the dome shaped hall with tiers of seats sloping down towards the stage at the very front. But between the seats and the stage was a section of tables complete with table-cloth, wine glasses and chairs – as if they expected people to dine there.

"This way." Inuyasha tugged her down the stairs, passing all the tier seats in favour of heading towards the tables. "We have a few seats with our names on them."

Their table was one of the ones closest to the stage. "Oh how quaint." Kagome commented as she found her seat with her own little place name. She sat down next to Inuyasha…

It wasn't long before Sango and Miroku joined them with Kikyo following a few minutes later. The rest of the entourage was at standby back-stage, but as Sango told Kagome, they probably weren't going to be needed tonight and would only serve to get in everyone's way. But, since Inuyasha was a diva, he needed his entourage.

Eventually the evening got underway, and Kagome only had one word for it.

Boring.

She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand and she blinked rapidly to try and stay awake. Perhaps she would have just gone straight to sleep right then and there if there hadn't been camera men circling the tables every few minutes. She tried to ignore them like Miroku had said, but it was unnerving to be sitting there, minding her own business, until a camera came along and stared at her for five minutes before moving off to stare at someone else.

"Bored, bored, bored…" she mumbled quietly under her breath as the latest camera moved away.

"Shh." Inuyasha hissed back before turning back to the stage.

"And now to present the award for the People's Choice Award… Joi Ito."

A round of applause stirred Kagome enough to half-heartedly clap along with everyone else. She sank back into her seat and stared at her napkin whilst the nominees names were rattled off.

"And the winner is…" Drum roll. "Inuyasha!"

Surprise! Or not. Kagome still managed to smile for him and clap more heartily this time as he scraped his chair back, smiling like the award-winning sucker he was, and followed the trail through the tables to the steps leading on stage. The applauding subsided as he reached the podium, kissed Joi on the cheek and stepped up to make his speech.

__

This should be interesting. Kagome considered as she leant her chin on her upturned palm.

"Well this is still the easiest award I've ever won – and I'll say what I said last year. Cheers to my buddy who kept voting for me under different names. I owe you one, man." A ripple of laughter ran around the room and Kagome found her own lips quirking up in a smile as he made the peace sign and stepped away. The applause echoed all over again as he made his way back to his seat, this time carrying the little trophy that Joi had given him. A pretty glass sculpture with 'People's Choice' chiselled at the bottom.

"Nice." Kagome told him as he sat back down. She took the award off of him to examine it with Sango. "Very nice."

Inuyasha just smiled and sat back… though Kagome had a feeling that if there weren't so many people watching him then he would have sneered cockily. He was so self-assured that he was set to win all the awards he'd been nominated for, it was disgusting.

The awards continued. Various celebrities, actresses and musicians ended up on stage picking up their awards, saying appreciative things and then sitting back down. Kagome was at least willing to admit that it was interesting to see all these famous people turning up and standing only a few metres away from where she sat.

Then disaster struck.

"And here to announce the award for best new-comer boxer and youngest semi-finalist – Kagome Higurashi."

All colour seemed to drain out of her face and she felt sick. Inuyasha snapped a surprised look on her while everyone else around their table just looked worried. The people clapped and Kagome just sat there, stunned and shocked… she couldn't move.

Miroku made eyes at her. "Go – go – just smile and read auto-cue!" he hissed, nodding his head towards the stage.

Kikyo set her wine-glass down. "I'll come with her. There's obviously been some mix-up here…"

Kikyo stood and moved around the table to help Kagome up. Her legs felt like lead, but she valiantly took the measured steps to follow Kikyo between the tables as the applause continued. Up the steps, under the hot lights of the stage and towards the podium. The host greeted her warmly, kissing her cheek and pointing her towards the podium. The host didn't kiss Kikyo… probably because she gave him a frosty glare that warned him to keep his distance. 

Thanks to the glare of the overhead lights, Kagome could barely see anyone in the audience. The applause died down and she glanced around for the auto-cue that Miroku had mention. She spotted it a short distance away, below her. Remembering everything Miroku had told her, she willed her voice to be strong and clear and smile like she knew what she was doing.

Somehow it worked… despite the fact that her insides felt like jelly.

"Ever since the new form of boxing swept the nation ten years ago, a powerful blend of martial-arts kick-boxing with a no-holds barred rule with the format of regular boxing, many opponents have taken part in the sport. But only the best will be here tonight." Wow, she could almost believe that she'd given speeches like this her entire life. She glanced down at the table she'd sat at and saw Sango giving her a thumb's up as Miroku gave her a cheesy grin to show her she was doing well. Inuyasha looked blank and unresponsive. Blasé as ever… "And here are the nominations for best recognised new-comer to the world of boxing." She peered at the auto-cue, hoping she would announce the names right. "Max Powers," she paused for the cheering to die down. "Akinobu Yuki," another pause and then the last name came up that made her stomach tighten. "And… Kouga."

That last one was greeted with a heck of a lot of support that had Kagome worried… she had a feeling she knew who was going to win.

"And the winner is…" she picked up the envelope on the podium before her and opened it as confidently as she could. She broke out into a big fake smile and cheered the name. "Kouga!"

She saw him stand from his table and approach the steps to the stage. Now she was in for it. But he was smiling when the stage light finally allowed her to see him. She picked up one of the two glass awards that sat on the podium and held it out to him, arm outstretched as far as possible without being suspicious looking. She didn't want to get too close… he might just throttle her.

But he just took the award, kissed her cheek and went to make his acceptance speech.

"I've only been a serious fighter for a year, but you can bet that you'll be seeing me in the finals tomorrow."

__

You didn't deserve to get past the preliminaries you little worm…Kagome thought vehemently.

"And I'd like to thank my masseuse girl, Kagome," he waved a hand in her general direction, making her stiffen. "That Russian massage really hit the spot, doll."

Oh crap…

He stepped back from the podium and the applause rose again, but this time she could tell half of the audience were confused as to what he meant… the rest were bored and hadn't listened to a word he said. Kagome had to restrain herself from kicking him as he approached her again and kissed her on the opposite cheek before leaving to sit back down with his trophy.

Kagome glanced at Kikyo who was regarding her with mild surprise and a little reprove. She sighed internally and sidled up to the podium again. "And the nominees for Continued Semi-finalist…"

She read the auto-cue. "Mr. Meatball." Very little applause. "Inuyasha." Quite a lot of applause. "And Hogai Suzuki." Average applause. "And the winner is…"

She opened the golden envelope and scoffed silently to herself. "The winner is Inuyasha!"

He hopped out of his seat quite cheerfully and wove between the tables towards the stage. He headed towards Kikyo first and kissed her cheek, ignoring her frosty 'do-not-touch' look. Then he moved over to Kagome and kissed her.

On the lips.

A faint buzz rose from the gathered audience and Kagome stood in frigid shock as the scant, but warm and gentle caress of his lips crossed hers and then disappeared… as did the glass trophy from her hand. She still stood in dumb shock as Inuyasha made his speech.

"…one year I'll be standing here taking the award for Long-running Champion!" he said in good-nature as everyone cheered. "I'd like to thank my trainer, Toutousai, my Brother for his help, Twiggy," he pointed back at Kagome, "for all her inspiration, and Kouga, for when he loses to me in our match tomorrow to send me into the finals. Thank you!"

The cheers accompanying him off the podium seemed loud enough to shake the ceiling tiles. He took Kagome by the elbow, startling her out of her dumb shock as he led her off stage with Kikyo and back to their seats.

That's when she noticed his grip was almost painful.

He was mad at her.

~*~

"What are you so mad about?" Kagome demanded sharply, glaring at Inuyasha across the interior of the limo. "You walked away with three awards today and all you can do is sulk about it."

Three said awards were currently locked away in Kikyo's briefcase for safe-keeping. It was unlikely that Inuyasha or Kagome would ever see them again.

"The problem, twit-face, is that _you _have secretly been spying on me for Kouga." He snarled back, forgetting his own compromise to not snap at her. "The minute I leave you alone you run off to Kouga and tell him all my trade secrets!"

"That's ridiculous!" Kagome exploded at him. "You basically wiped your hands clean of me in that arena – you didn't care what happened to me and I didn't know that I would bump into Kouga when I got lost! I've never met him before so how could I have organised anything with him!" she folded her arms tightly across her chest. "AND it would be impossible for me to go to him and tell him all your secrets, which I wouldn't have anyway, because I _don't know_ any of your secrets! I know as much about boxing techniques as I do about how to make a DVD player from scratch – which before you ask, I do _not _know how to make a DVD player from scratch!"

"Then how come you ended up giving him an massage?!" he demanded.

"Because he thought I was the massage-girl, ok?!"

"Oh, I bet you leapt right into that one, didn't you-"

"I did when he told me that he'd drugged you!" Kagome steamed. "That's when I smashed his shoulders with my fists!"

He snorted. "You can't smash Kouga's shoulders with _your _fists." He criticised, letting his gaze slide to the window as the limo began slowing down outside the villa entrance.

"That's probably why I smashed a chair over him instead." She said bluntly. "It hurt him a jolly lot more than my fists did."

The doors opened courtesy of the black suit bodyguards and Kagome quickly scooted over to get out before Inuyasha. Just as she was stepping down onto the gravel of the driveway she stopped short and turned to look over her shoulder at Inuyasha who was poised to get out just behind her. "And… by the way…"

"By the way what?" he snapped irritably.

"You kiss like an ashtray." She told him malignantly. She stepped down completely and headed towards the entourage who were exiting the limos behind them, aiming for Sango.

But just before she was out of ear-shot she heard Inuyasha call to her. "And you'll never wear that dress as well as my mother did."

She stopped and turned to look around at him… but he was already moving up the stairs and disappeared into the villa before she could really gouge what that expression had meant.

AN: Don't worry. I'm sure they'll get to like each other eventually… sort of…


	12. The Right to Remain Silent

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Author's Notes:

PLEASE READ: I've noticed that ff.net has been evil again and keeps popping up the 'chapter does not exist' message when there are updates. To combat this problem and to access the new chapter instead of waiting around for hours, just type in any number or letter after the address in the top bar, press enter and the new chapter should appear.

Got it?

I don't know why that works, but apparently it does. You could type in 'frying12purpleguineapigs' and it would still work (believe me, I tried it). But I really hope that solves any future frustrations, and I'm sincerely sorry if that non-existent chapter message popped up whilst trying to access this chapter. (What a kick in the ass)

And also I have a web site at last, after taking the advise of a few readers who keep getting frustrated with ff.net and mm.org. You can find all my fanfiction there as well as all the fanart that I've finished so far. (Bear in mind that it's only two days old so one or two fanfics may not be up yet.) To go there just go to my profile page and find the link.

Oh, **Squeakyinuears** and **LinaNverse** are both geniuses ^_^ You both really hit the nail on the head there.

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Dead Famous

Chapter 12

The Right to Remain Silent

"Oh Bess, Bess, Bess, Bess…" Kagome said as she exhaled her breath slowly. "You're not a very complicated creature are you?"

Dubbed simple creature strained on her leash, trying to drag Kagome towards a bush of pungent smelling flowers. Kagome sniffed and was vaguely reminded of alcohol, so she tugged Bess' leash, pulling her away from the bush as they continued their way through the gardens.

The air smelt clean and fresh, the morning dew that still clung to the grass dampened her shoes, soaking in through the material and wetting her socks. Kagome ignored the cold discomfort as she made her way through a row of evergreen trees and came into a large clearing – a circular plateau, half grass and half water. That was either one hell of a big pond or just a mini lake.

It was a beautiful morning… and normally her thoughts would have been clear and enlightened by the pretty flowers and the heavenly smells.

But instead she felt mildly depressed.

Kagome drew to a stop and knelt down to unhook the leash from Bess' collar, letting her roam free. She picked up an old stick from the grass and passed it between her hands for a moment before pulling her arm back and tossing it as far as possible. It was a lame throw and it didn't go very far… but Bess didn't care and scuttled after it with a bark.

She'd given the dress back to Sango, despite her saying that Kagome was entitled to keep it. It wasn't like anyone would ever wear it again… but somehow Kagome just didn't feel entitled at all. Especially not after Inuyasha's comment last night.

Bess came trotting back, dragging the stick through the grass beside her and dropped it at Kagome's feet. The girl bent to pick it up and had soon sent the young dog scurrying back the way she came in chase of the piece of wood.

Kagome took a moment to herself while Bess was gone to turn towards the group of bushes beside the pond. In a poor effort to cheer herself up she sniffed the blossoms and picked a few of the prettier ones to take back to the villa. She'd put them in a cup of water or something and take them home with her tomorrow as a present for her friends. Flowers from Inuyasha's garden. They'd like that.

Bess arrived back with the stick and Kagome bent absently to toss it again with one hand… straight into the pond. She flinched when she heard the splash and spun just in time to see Bess take a head-long dive into the water. "No! They'll kill me!"

Bess didn't seem to care as she doggy-paddled out to bring back the stick… and a few unpleasant looking pond plants. Kagome wrinkled her nose as the dog clambered back onto the bank with her prize and shook her fur close to Kagome's legs, spraying the girl with lots of muddy water droplets.

Kagome peered down at her dirtied skirt and winced. "You might as well have another go now that you're dirty." She picked up the slimy stick and hurled it back into the pond and went back to the flowers.

Inuyasha was hiding himself away in the gym that morning, training furiously for his fight against Kouga. Kikyo had already called Sesshomaru back to 'help' out again since although Inuyasha probably couldn't feel the effects of the drugs, there would still be small traces in his body. Every time Kagome was reminded of the heroin incident she couldn't help but feel disappointed and angry at Inuyasha. How could he be quite stupid?

Answer: Quite easily really.

Stupid and sulky. That was what he was.

Kagome had crossed paths with him at breakfast and had noticed the lack of eye-contact he'd made. He'd sulked and he'd ignored her and had even gone to the trouble of walking around the table to fetch the sugar when he could have simply asked Kagome to pass it to him.

Of course, by now Kagome knew that he was only sulking to make a point. He sulked to show he was mad at her… it would have been easy for him to just smile and pretend he didn't care at all… maybe she would have even believed the act if he'd come down the stairs that morning and cheerfully greeted anyone. But how did she know that the sulking wasn't an act as well, just to make her feel bad?

But… Kagome had her intuition and she knew that it wasn't an act. This guy was _pissed_. Why? Well… she couldn't be certain but she had a feeling it could be any number of things. Maybe he was angry because she'd offended him by saying he kissed like an ashtray? Or maybe, as Sango had suggested, he was merely incensed that she'd had any contact with his sworn enemy Kouga without him knowing. 

Kagome was pulled out of her thoughts when a rather wet dog rolled onto her feet, whining and begging for her tummy to be scratched. Kagome giggled at the wet animal and dutifully crouched to rub her fingers through the soft fur covering Bess' belly. "I don't know how I'm supposed to cheer him up…" she whispered to Bess. Maybe she didn't even want to cheer him up? She just didn't know anything when it came to Inuyasha. She didn't know whether he was sad or happy, angry or hurt… or whether it was her fault that he was unhappy or just him being a jerk on a guilt trip.

She didn't find any answers to her questions during that walk. So Kagome just sighed once more and clipped the leash back onto Bess and dragged her back towards the villa with a small bunch of flowers in her hand.

"Ah, there you are." Miroku greeted when he spotted her approaching the main entrance. "I was wondering if that dog had dragged you over a cliff or something… but it looks like she dragged you into a pond by mistake."

Kagome looked down at her wet, slightly smelly charge and shook her head. "I think she rolled in something."

"Don't worry, I'll give her a bath. I'll happily hose you down too if you-"

"No thanks, I have a shower in my room." She smiled and passed him the leash. "Where's Sango?"

"With Inuyasha."

"Um… is he…" Kagome wrung her hands together anxiously. "Is he mad at me?"

Miroku gave her a penetrating sort of stare that caused her more concern than ever. Then he smiled. "Of course not."

He was lying. Inuyasha was mad, he was very mad. Kagome tried a good impression of her usual relieved smile. "Oh good… thanks." _Never mind,_ she thought as she mooched back up the steps to the entrance doors and stepped into the cool foyer.

"There you are!"

Kagome looked up to see Kikyo striding purposefully towards her with a phone in her outstretched hand. "Someone wants to talk to you."

"Who?" Kagome asked the natural question.

Kikyo just shrugged, shoved the phone into her hand and strode off again. Obviously that was one busy woman. Kagome watched her walk away for a moment before raising the phone to her ear curiously. "Hello?"

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT KISS?! THAT MASSAGE?! YOU PRESENTED AN AWARD, GIRL, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!"

Ah… Yuka had found her.

~*~

"Would you – ***wham*** – calm down – ***thock*** – I can barely keep up with you!!"

"That was my mother's dress!" Inuyasha yelled, punching the bag that Sango tried to desperately to steady it. She was strong for a human woman, but Inuyasha wasn't human, nor a woman. "That was _her _dress! How could you give it to _her_?!"

"Well you weren't using it, were you?!" She spat back, red faced from the exertion of keeping the bag from flying away dangerously. "Your mother died six years ago – when are you going to put her clothing behind you?!"

"NEVER!" 

He gave the bag one last pummel that had Sango staggering backwards, wind-milling her arms to keep her balance. He hand caught the side of the tread-mill and at once she shot Inuyasha with a piercing look. "What is the matter with you?!" she snapped. "You are taking all of this way too personally for your own good!"

"That girl has just fucked everything up!" he hissed, seething with the anger that had been burning away all night. "Haven't you noticed that ever since she arrived here, everything's been shot to hell?!"

"You're exaggerating," Sango said dismissively. "Just because there is one girl you've met who won't make-out with you or let you walk all over her… that's all this is about isn't it? She won't do things your way so you're mad."

"That's not the problem!" he snarled.

"Then what the hell _is _your problem?" she planted her hands on her hips, breathing hard.

"Just shut up and go." He whipped away from her and resumed punching the bag, letting it swing out to a near ninety degree angle before hitting it again when it swung straight back.

Sango watched him with a hard glare before angrily marching over to the benches, swiping her jacket and storming out. "You're such an ass. I'm ashamed to work for you." She snapped as a parting sentiment over her shoulder as the door slammed shut.

"Good riddance," Inuyasha muttered to himself.

It was no good asking him what was wrong, because he just didn't know. All he knew was that it was somehow _Kagome's _fault. He wasn't all that mad about her wearing his mother's dress… in fact she hadn't looked half bad in it, and red _did _suit her. What angered him was that his mouth had forgotten to get permission from his brain before speaking, and he'd snapped a rather cruel, but true, statement. Something about her had made him forget to hold his tongue… she'd gotten right under his skin with her last comment about the kiss and he just hadn't been able to let her get away with it, even though he knew he should have known better than to let her know just what he thought about that dress. His composure was falling apart at the seams every day that passed by in her company. 

__

That was what got to him. Because he knew that if she stuck around any longer then he just might loose it all together, not after all these years of control.

He stopped punching the bag and caught it with his hands before it smacked into him. He held it tightly, sinking the tips of his claws into the fabric covering the sausage shaped bag and tried to pretend it was Kagome shaped instead.

There was something wrong with that girl. Insults normally bounced off of him like glue… but hers struck like arrows, piercing his tough hide and going right for the heart, provoking him to lash back when he would normally let things go. He didn't care what people around him thought, he didn't particularly care what _anyone _thought of him, and it was only Kikyo's constant reminder that trouble-makers didn't pull in teenage girls' parent's money that stopped him from doing whatever the hell he liked in public. But the new girl, Kagome, for some reason, it was beginning to matter to him what she thought of him.

Not that he wanted her to think of him as a decent person, or a kind or generous person. There was no way in hell that she would ever get the impression that he was a fundamentally good person… and he didn't want to give it. But he didn't want her to start thinking of him as someone to be pitied, someone who needed help or was making a silent cry for attention. He wanted her to think of him as everyone else did; either adore him or detest him.

Things weren't going his way at all… so perhaps Sango was right. Maybe that was all that was really wrong with him.

He gave the punching bag one last, half-hearted thump before grabbing the remote control for the television set from the window ledge and turned up the volume to see what was on. He flicked past a hundred advertising channels before he skipped something that looked interesting…

Inuyasha went back a few stations and stopped, cocking his head.

It was one of those Daytime television programs cleverly named 'Good Morning'. This particular show was renowned for spreading the gossip and fashion of superstars and was generally aimed at a mature audience.

__

"And as for our 'Dressed to Impress and Dressed to Distress' quarter of the show, here are some clips from last night's Armitage Awards." The middle-aged female presenter told the camera with a good-natured smile.

Dressed to distress came up first, and he was thankful that he wasn't included in the line-up. He recognised a few and agreed wholeheartedly… some of those outfits were atrocious. However dressed to impress came up next, and he was rather put-out to find that he wasn't in that particular line-up either.

Twiggy was.

And dear god, she was going to be highlighted about it.

"_Now this is an interesting choice of dress to wear to the awards, isn't it Isoki."_ The woman turned to her male co-presenter when the clips ended.

__

"Mm, if I'm not much mistaken, the last time this line of dress was seen, was in 1996 at the Fashion World show – displayed by non other than the model Ribia, Inuyasha's own mother." The male commented like this was all just common knowledge… like he wasn't reading a script at all. _"Designed by 'Pier don Marche' and possibly even the same dress, what do you think, Ikimi?"_

"I think you're right, and I also have to say that I've noticed Kagome Higurashi and Inuyasha's agent hold a strong resemblance to one another."

"Yes, I noticed that as well. A relation perhaps?"

"Which leads to rumours that the draw was indeed fixed. But sources also reveal that last night's 'surprise' presentation by Kagome was in fact a mistake. Producers of the award show told us that Fukiko Tanaka was originally supposed to present the award, they admit there may have been a mix-up… or even a prank. But for Inuyasha to give her such a dress to wear must mean that the pair are on friendlier terms than we expected."

"Ha." Inuyasha scoffed in contempt.

The woman continued. _"Of course the little display of affection at the awards is an indication that perhaps they are more than friendly. Kagome also seems to have earned herself a pet-name as well as tender kiss for presenting an award. He certainly wasn't so keen on Joi Ito, as we would have expected."_

Tender kiss? Affection? Pet name? Inuyasha snorted and shook his head. It was ridiculous. The kiss was to get his own back. He knew that she hated it when he got anywhere near her, and for him to do something like that in public was the ultimate shame on her. Also… it might warn Kouga to keep his hands off anything under _his _roof.

__

"To give us some insight into this revelation, we've invited our Inuyasha expert back to the studio," the woman said as the camera swung to a third person sitting on the Good Morning couch. A young woman, only about seventeen.

He recognised her at once and narrowed his eyes. She was one of his old girlfriends who had promptly gone around selling her story to every newspaper the minute he'd dropped her. All bad rumours had stemmed from this girl… this was bad news…

__

"So what do you think to the pet name, 'Twiggy', Miss Asami?"

Ah! Asami! Now he remembered her name!

__

"I think all that really means, Ikimi, is that he can't remember her real name. It happens all the time. Inuyasha never seems to make the effort to really get to know the people around him." The old girlfriend told. _"And as for any growing relationship? I warn Kagome not to get her hopes up too high – Inuyasha is you're a-typical ladies man. He has a reputation for it, yet he still manages to score unbelievable numbers when he wants to. I've seen him literally pick girls up out of a crowd at a party and take them into the bathroom just to make-out."_

"Hey – I only did that once and I dumped you after that!" he yelled at the Tv.

__

"He never sees the same girl twice and he never remembers their name." The girl continued. _"And I feel kind of sorry for her, she's only young, she needs to get out of that villa before she gets out of her depth."_

"No one's listening to you," Inuyasha told her flatly.

A knock sounded from the door and he glanced towards it. "Who is it?"

"It's me," Kagome's voice.

Inuyasha fumbled with the remote, quickly changing to another channel before she heard her name mention. "Come in!" he called when it was all clear.

Kagome pushed the door open and stepped into the room. He noticed that she'd changed since breakfast and her hair was wet like she'd had a shower. She closed the door after her and gave him a long look as she approached him where he stood in the middle of the floor.

She glanced up at the Tv for a moment as she came to a stop beside him. She opened her mouth to speak but when she saw what he was watching she failed to come up with anything to say. He followed her gaze to the screen and immediately gave himself a well-deserved mental slap on the forehead.

Straight off Good Morning and straight onto the Foreign Porn channel.

"Do you always watch Porn when you practise?" she said uneasily.

"Yeah…" he answered slowly. "Helps motivate me."

"Could you… turn it off?" she tore her eyes away and looked at everything else except the screen.

"If I must." He said with a put-out sort of sigh as he picked up the remote and switched it off. "What do you want?"

"You don't mess around do you?" she said dully.

"What do you want?" he repeated more forcefully.

She rolled her eyes and folded her arms. She was quiet a moment before she finally looked up to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry."

It was hard to find someone as sincere as she was. He was almost endeared by the look in her eyes. So he just pretended to blink in confusion. "What?"

"I'm sorry." She repeated in the same forceful tone he'd used. "I upset you last night… I still haven't figured out which one you're mad about, maybe all of it combined, but I'm sorry and I hope that you'll stop this sulking business."

"Who says I'm sulking?" he challenged.

"You're body-language right now." She gave his tightly folded arms a pointed look. He slowly unfolded them but glared warningly at her. _Don't push me this time, girl…_

"So…" she leant her head slightly to the left. "So I'm sorry I wore your mother's dress. I had no right… it wasn't mine. I'm sorry I made that comment about that stupid kiss – which by the way my friends want to kill me for and my mother keeps asking uncomfortable questions about. And… and I'm sorry that I spoke to Kouga behind your back, even though I probably did you a favour by injuring him before the fight and putting you at even odds with him."

"Mm." He shrugged. "If you put it like that, I guess I have nothing to sulk about."

She looked relieved. "Exactly! So can we stop this arguing and just enjoy the last day of my stay here?"

"Uh…" he made a show of thinking hard as he pretended to consider that suggestion from every angle. Then eventually he bluntly said, "No."

"Excuse me?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Believe it or not, you don't upset me by what you do. You upset me by just being you." He blinked. "Hey that rhymed!"

"What do you mean by being me?" her eyes narrowed into thinner slits.

"You, to me, is what an annoying spot of spinach is between someone's teeth. You, to me, is what a flea is to a dog. You, to me, is a tick in the brain of a psychopath. You, to me, is what deodorant is to the fat sweaty man who jogs by the Blossom café every morning." He gave her a patronising smile. "Do you understand, sweetheart?"

"Am I just a nuisance to you?" She asked calmly.

"Well, less of a nuisance and more of a threat I suppose." He stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose it's unfair to say you just get in my way. You pester, irritate, get under my skin and cause a rash. Because if you must know, you're going to have to leave tomorrow or I might just do something I regret?"

"Like what?" she folded her arms, looking him daringly in the eye. "Like strangle me, maybe?"

"No. Do something I regret like _talk _to you." He smirked and moved away to the bench to pick up a towel. "And I really _hate _talking, by the way."

"I noticed."

"I'm actually getting tingles of anticipation for when you leave." He told her with a quirked smile. "I don't think I've ever looked forward to something as much as this. Bon voyage for then!"

Kagome flexed her fingers in annoyance against her arms. "Obviously you're not mature enough to get over yourself." She snapped and headed for the door but stopped before she reached for the handle and turned back to him, obviously with more to say. But judging by the light blush tinting her cheeks, she wasn't going to find it comfortable. "And… just for the record… why did you kiss me?" she asked in a small voice.

He couldn't help but grin. Progress! "Wouldn't you like to know?" he said evasively. Finally she was getting flustered… it had only taken a week of trying.

"I don't want to know!" she said quickly. "It was Yuka who wanted to know."

"Well you can tell this 'Yuki'-"

"Yuka."

"Tell your friend that I find you absolutely gorgeous and that I can barely keep my hands off of you." He waited for her to turn red and run away.

But instead she sighed and gave him a disparaging look. "Why aren't you ever serious…?" She shook her head sadly and walked out.

There it was again, that annoying feeling that he felt he couldn't let her walk away with the last word. He fought the urge down to bark another insult after her… but by just standing there trying to ignore it he only wound up feeling worse.

"Sod it," he muttered and threw himself towards the door and skidded into the corridor outside. He looked around a moment before spotting her as she was just about to disappear around a corner. "I'll have you know that I _am _serious!"

__

Yes. Well done, he congratulated himself dryly as he saw her give him a puzzled look.

"You're weird." She called to him then disappeared around the corner, out of his sight. 

"No – _you're _weird!" he shouted back… but he had the feeling she wasn't listening anymore, or really cared for that matter.

He spun angrily with a hiss and thumped his fist against the doorway. "That is the _last _time I let Kikyo do stupid fan-girl promotions for me!"

~*~

The rematch went ahead as planned, though this time Kagome wasn't stowing away in Sesshomaru's car. Kikyo was driving this time, with Sango beside her and the two argumentative brats in the back; Kagome and Inuyasha.

Miroku had to follow in Sesshomaru's car since they'd run out of room in Kikyo's. (Actually there was room, but Inuyasha insisted on having the seat beside him to put his feet up). Also, this time, Sesshomaru had brought the kiddies along.

"Nice car." Miroku commented over the shriek of excited children in the back seat.

Sesshomaru continued to swerve without saying anything.

Miroku spotted something red on the dash board. "Ooh - what does this button do-?"

"Don't touch that." Sesshomaru said icily. Miroku slowly withdrew his hand back into his lap, making a mental note that Inuyasha's brother was twice as frosty as Kikyo, and five times scarier.

"OW! HIKO BIT ME!"

"DID NOT!"

"DID TOO!"

"Stop it!" Sesshomaru barked at his children, but he was ignored, so he used more extreme methods to break them up.

He pulled the hand-break.

Miroku jerked as the car screeched to an instant halt, and felt three successive thuds against the back of his seat as three kids who didn't like to wear seat-belts came pelting forward. He didn't dare breath as Sesshomaru turned calmly to face his precious ones. "Do you all remember the Grand Canyon?"

"…yes…" came three vague voices from the heap of boys on the floor.

"Well if you don't sit down and shut up then I will turn around and drive there right now and push all three of you over the edge." He turned back to the wheel. "And put your seat-belts on."

The three boys climbed back into their seats sullenly and pulled on their belts with exaggerated pouts.

"Now. Let's try again." Sesshomaru said calmly as he pushed the hand-brake down and started off again down the motorway.

Miroku tried not to open his eyes the rest of the way. There was only so much panic and stress one heart could take.

~*~

"Did you know that boxers, when they retire, often have semi-brain damage due to the many blows they receive to the head during their career?" Kagome asked Inuyasha as she trailed along after him as they made their way to the changing rooms. She'd picked up a pamphlet about boxing somewhere and was helpfully reciting interesting quotes. "That'll be a shame for you because you'll have full brain damage considering you were already semi-damaged to begin with."

"Who gave you that?" he snatched the booklet from her and shoved it into a bin they were passing in the corridor. "That's a load of bullshit."

"Boxers approximately loose half of their brain cells by the end of their career." She gave him a startled look. "Inuyasha – you'll only have one left!"

"Why did we bring her along, again?" Inuyasha snapped at Kikyo.

Sango fielded that answer. "Because she's giving morale to the troops." She was lending her shoulders to a rather pale, green looking Miroku. He could barely stand on his own it seemed. "Don't be so sensitive, Inuyasha." She told him. "We all know you have way more than two brain cells."

"Yeah," Kagome said dryly. "You have at least fifteen."

They all sniggered apart from Inuyasha and Kikyo.

"Abuse," Inuyasha said with a scoff. "Abuse is all I get from my employees. Why do I even bother?"

He stopped outside a door leading off from the corridor and pushed it open, leading the rest of the small group inside. Kikyo stopped in the doorway. "I'll go find out when they want you up in the arena." She said and let the door swing close behind her as she stalked off.

"Why does Miroku look like he's about to throw up?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha slipped away into the back of the changing room to get… well, changed.

"Sesshomaru drives very…" Miroku sat down on a bench, looking for the right word. "Aggressively."

"He drives like Godzilla is on his tail!" Came Inuyasha disembodied voice came from the back room.

"Or his wife." Sango slipped in and they all had a good chuckled at that. Except for Kagome who didn't get it.

"Why would he…?" she began.

"Let's just say Sesshomaru and his wife aren't exactly feeling that newly wedded vibe thing." Miroku told her. "They were married two years before Inuyasha was born and their eldest son has just finished university and for the past few years his wife has been pressuring for more children. Now they have four, three boys and a girl and they're driving the family crazy."

"They pretend everything's ok, but in reality, they're about two more extra-marital affairs away from getting a separation." Sango said knowledgeably. "We all know she's been 'helping' her pool-boy 'clean the pools' for quite a while now." She made little quotation marks with her fingers.

"Poor Sesshomaru."

"He's ok." Inuyasha said as he came back in a dressing robe. "He's got the hots for his new secretary. She's an air-head but she's got the biggest-"

"Ahem!" Sango cleared her throat pointedly.

"… dimples." He finished and pointed to his face. "In her cheeks. She's very sweet, but Sesshomaru won't let me near her… I can't imagine why…"

"I wonder…" Kagome gave him a flat look, just as the door opened again and Kikyo came in. She looked sombre. Actually, she always looked sombre, but this time there was a definite disturbed air to her sombreness.

"What's the matter?" Inuyasha prompted her.

"There isn't going to be a match today." Kikyo told him slowly.

"WHAT?!" Inuyasha predictably exploded.

Kagome's first thought was that he'd been discovered. That they somehow knew about the drugs despite Sesshomaru taking the test.

Sango was a little more sensible than Inuyasha. "Why? What's happened?"

The door opened again behind Kikyo and Kagome frowned in confusion as two police officers entered, though she could see at least five more standing out in the corridor. The older officer behind Kikyo moved around to address Inuyasha. "Sir, you're going to have to come with us?"

"Why? What's this about?" Inuyasha said defensively. For all his wonderful acting skills, he was playing off as guilty this time. But he had every reason to be nervous…

"Your opponent, Kouga, has been hospitalised after a drive-by shooting this morning." The man moved forward while the other officers forced their way past Kikyo to enter the room. The agent stubbornly remained stood in their way, despite the way she was pushed. "You are under arrest for suspicion of attempted murder, anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. If you resist it will only make your case more difficult."

For a moment Kagome thought he would resist. She could see him faintly squaring his shoulders as if preparing to take them all on if need be… but with one faint shake of the head from Kikyo, he caved. 

"Fine." Inuyasha shrugged indifferently and started walking toward the back room. "Just let me get my clothes."

AN: I think these chapters are getting steadily longer…


	13. Say it Isn't So

****

Author's Notes: I can't believe it. My sites only been up for three days and already it started crashing because too many people were using it. I'm flattered, seriously, but then I had to get an upgrade. Four dollars it cost me, people! Four! I'm broke!

Oh well… no more annoying ads at least, and no more down time…for now. ^_^

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 13

Say It Isn't So

There was an embarrassingly large crowd of people outside the main entrance to the sport's arena when the police hauled him off to their escorts.

"Quite a turn-out." The oldest officer who pulled Inuyasha along by the elbow commented. Inuyasha didn't have much choice but to follow seeing as how his wrists had been cuffed together behind his back.

"They were expecting to see a fight." Kikyo said coldly as she hurried alongside them.

"Well they're gonna see an arrest instead." The officer replied curtly.

Inuyasha glanced over his shoulder to see Sango and Miroku being frog-marched along by more officers. Kagome was escorted at a slightly more polite pace by a young lieutenant, obviously she was under no suspicion since she was merely a temporary guest.

He tried to ignore the lines of shocked faces in the crowd as they passed. This was unbelievable… and Kikyo was worried that _smoking _was bad press?

"Don't you know who I am?" he grated out the immortal question to the officer beside him.

They stopped beside the police escort vehicle and the officer in question gave him a scrutinising look up and down. Obviously this man had no teenage daughters, or he would have made the connection instantly. Then suddenly it clicked. "Yeah, I know who you are." But then he went on to say… "You're that guy who got shot in the gay bar last year."

Inuyasha's insides literally froze in horror. Miroku, having overheard, was breaking down into a poorly suppressed fit of laughter. Sango and Kikyo looked distinctly uneasy while Kagome looked downright shocked. "Who got shot in a gay bar?" she chirped in disbelief, staring at him.

"No one! Let's go already!" Inuyasha snapped and quite eagerly ducked down into the police car, praying to god that no one else had heard that.

Kagome watched the door slam after him in shock. She wanted to go over to Miroku and Sango and ask about what on earth that little story was about, but the lieutenant on her arm was insistent about not letting her speak to anyone. She was still wondering what on earth was going on. Kouga had been shot? What had that got to do with Inuyasha? If Kouga had been shot that morning then Inuyasha couldn't have done it… he was busily arguing with her, not shooting down boxing opponents in the middle of the street.

"Miss, come this way please." The guy holding her elbow gently ushered her towards another awaiting police car. She did as he said… after all, her mother had always told her to never antagonise the police.

Someone should have told that to Inuyasha.

~*~

"This is just typical of the police department, you know." Inuyasha ranted. "Just because I don't happen to like the guy, doesn't mean I would go out there and kill him for it."

He was sat down in one of those little grey interrogation rooms. Two detectives in suits rather than uniform sat opposite him across a rather simple wooden table. A little tape recorder whirred slowly at the edge of the table while a one-way mirror on the wall behind the detectives hid three police and another detective. 'Hid' being the not-so-operative word, seeing as how Inuyasha could see them quite clearly, as if looking through a slightly tinted window.

He ignored them anyway.

"Where were you at eight o'clock this morning?" the detective asked in a neutral voice, watching Inuyasha carefully.

"Probably eating breakfast."

"Probably?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "What, you think I make note of the time every time I do something. Like 'Oh, I'll go get a glass of water – and the time is zero-eight-hundred hours'. I don't think so."

"Where did you go when you finished breakfast?" the detective continued, jotting something down on his note-pad. Inuyasha glanced at the other guy who didn't seem to be saying very much… he looked familiar but Inuyasha couldn't place him.

"I went down to the gym to train for the match." He scowled. "Now see there – why would I bother training if I planned to pick off Kouga?"

"Do you have an alibi to say that you were training this morning?" the talkative guy prompted.

"Of course. Sango Nakamura. Kagome Higurashi. They both talked to me whilst I trained. And I have security tapes to prove it."

"What time did you finish training?"

Inuyasha thought for a moment… he'd finished when Kagome had left. But what time had that been? Well… Good Morning had been about half-way through so it would have been about… "Half past ten."

"And where did you go?"

"My room."

"To do what?"

"Finish up my crude plans to take over the world." Inuyasha said with deadly seriousness. "I may have also watched Tv."

"Until?"

"Until Kikyo came to fetch me for the match which was at two o'clock." Inuyasha glanced past the two men to look through the one-way mirror. He could see Kikyo stood there now, and if he squinted his eyes he could make out the three familiar shapes of Kagome, Sango and Miroku in the back behind the police.

"So you were in your room from half past ten through to two o'clock." The officer said in that tone of voice that made him sound slightly critical. "What about lunch? Didn't you come down for lunch."

"Wasn't hungry." Inuyasha shrugged.

"But surely you would eat something before a match?" the man raised his eyebrows.

"If I eat before a match then it would slow me down. Ever heard of indigestion?"

"Do you have any proof that you were indeed within your rooms between these hours?" the detective went on. "Security videos?"

"There are no security videos in the bedrooms. It's for privacy." Inuyasha said, knowing that he was turning a bad corner as he said it.

"Oh, how… convenient." The officer said with a slight curl of the lip.

That was where things started to only get worse.

~*~

"What did he mean when he said Inuyasha got shot in a gay bar?" Kagome whispered to Sango. "Was that what happened in 1992?"

"God no!" Sango looked shocked. "That happened last year."

"What was he doing in a-"

"_Near, _Kagome. _Near_." Sango corrected her quickly. "It was all a bit of a mishap. They were coming back from a party and then this guy just walked past, recognised Inuyasha and then pulled a gun out of no where. It only got his shoulder so it wasn't too bad… in fact the only painful thing about that incident was that it happened to be on the pavement outside a gay bar and it was a drag queen army that came to his rescue." She giggled. "Actually it's quite funny to watch his face whenever you mention that night."

"He obviously mustn't be very secure about his sexuality." Kagome shook her head with a faint smile.

"No… never has been." Sango snorted. "Do me a favour and ask him about it later, yeah? That is the one event that he doesn't mind talking about so much."

"Unlike 1992…?" Kagome asked hopefully.

"Forget it, Kagome, I'm not telling you." Sango said bluntly, making Kagome sigh in defeat and tune back into the conversation going on in the small interrogation room.

Things weren't going well.

~*~

"Can you please identify this car?" the talking detective pulled a photo out a large brown envelope and shoved it across the table towards Inuyasha.

Inuyasha took one look at the silver coloured sporty number and shrugged. "It's one of the cars in my garage." It had even been taken in the garage.

"When was the last time you drove it?"

"I've never driven it." Inuyasha frowned hard at the detective. "I haven't got my licence and my first lesson is next week for your information. And that car hasn't been driven for three years. The last person to drive it was the MOT inspector."

"Strange… we never found any of his fingerprints on the wheel." The detective was obviously going somewhere with this if the tone of his voice was anything to go by.

"Well the last time someone touched the wheel _was _three years ago." Inuyasha pointed out as if they were idiots. "It has been cleaned since then."

"But we did find _yours_."

Inuyasha stared at him neutrally.

"And we found catalyst residue on the exhaust which indicated that the car has indeed been driven within the last twenty four hours." The detective pulled another photo out and set it down before Inuyasha. "And… we also found these bullet shells under the driver's seat. Fresh. The bullets were only fired a few hours previous."

Inuyasha gazed down at the picture blankly. Then he looked up. "So?"

"So did you or did you not attempt to murder your opponent?"

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably. "…no…"

"If you lie now, it will only bring a harder sentence down on your head later on in court if you are found guilty." The detective pressured. "Did you drive that car this morning?"

"No." Inuyasha said quietly.

"Did you shoot Kouga with a semi-automatic machine gun."

"…no." He rubbed a hand against his forehead.

"Did you-"

The silent detective put his hand out to cut short his colleague's words. "I think we should stop now."

Inuyasha glanced up at the man, confusion pinching his face for a moment as he desperately tried to remember where he'd seen that face before.

"What?" the talkative cop barked at his co-worker. "But we're just about to-"

"The way you were going you'd make that kid admit to anything even if he was innocent." The detective picked the photos up and slid them back into the envelope. "We'll keep him here. In the mean time we can go talk to the other witnesses and get more evidence and follow this up later."

That's when Inuyasha recognised him. He groaned slightly and let his head drop into his arms on the table as the recorder was switched off and the detectives gathered their coats and papers. Kikyo entered the very moment they both left the room.

"That man makes me sick." She said spitefully as she sat down opposite him. "Just talks fast trying to make you trip up-"

"Leave off Kikyo." Inuyasha sighed, his voice muffled by his arms. "He's just doing his job."

That sounded too sensible and reasonable to be coming from his mouth. She immediately frowned in concern. "Are you alright?"

He lifted his head out of his arms with a slight pout. "I don't like the police." He commented bluntly.

Kikyo folded her arms primly with a penetrating look. "I know. You won't be here long though. I promise."

Inuyasha glanced past her to look through the one-way mirror. They were alone. "Where's the other three gone?"

"They're being interviewed." Kikyo told him. "They are your alibi's to your innocence after all."

He frowned at that. "But Kagome's just a kid, they can't treat her like…" he noticed Kikyo was looking at him strangely. "What?"

"So you _do _know her name." She gave him a approving look. "And all this time I thought you were just being your usual scatty self."

He blinked at her, then scoffed. "You know I only do it to annoy her."

"You'll only get bad press." She reminded.

"Ain't she going home tomorrow?" he cocked his head.

Kikyo nodded. "Once she's out of the way we can afford to let our hair down behind the scenes." She switched onto business mode. "They're going to escort you to a cell after I'm finished talking with you. I'm acting as your defence attorney as well so you can talk freely with me whenever you want. But I'm arranging a meeting with you and Sango in a few hours so you two can work out the finer details of where you two were at what time. She says she left you in the gym around half past ten and went to study. If we can destroy the evidence that proves she left the gym then she can be your alibi to establish that you were in the _gym _at quarter past eleven when Kouga was gunned down."

Inuyasha shook his head slightly with a weary frown. "I already told them she stormed out on me at half past ten and that I was alone in my room till two."

Kikyo threw the previous idea out of the window. "Fine. If I can get one of the maids to say that they were _with _you in your room between half past ten and two o'clock then that girl can be your alibi."

"Right. How _convenient_." He said sarcastically. "They won't believe that just some random maid happened to be with me to ensure my innocence. It's too easy to set up… that detective will see right through it."

Kikyo glared at him sharply. "Well if you're innocent come up with your own proof." She snapped. When he failed to say anything to that she smoothed out her ruffled fur and tried again. "It'll have to be Sango. She won't like it, but we'll have to say that it was Sango with you in that room. And the only reason you didn't mention it in this interview was because Sango wants to protect her reputation."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Alright. But you better tell her that it was your idea, and not mine."

~*~

"He said _what_?!" Sango hissed.

"He said that he wanted you to act as his alibi." Kikyo told her mildly. "You have to say that you were… 'prepping' him for his match." 

"Unbelievable!" Sango was fuming with anger. She folded her arms tightly over her chest and hunched down in her chair. "I can't believe that idiot…"

Kagome glanced around at the three employees in the waiting room of the police station. They were all firmly set on getting Inuyasha out of this pickle… but was it right. "Are you all so sure that Inuyasha is innocent?" she asked suddenly, making them all give her startled looks. "Are you?"

Miroku rubbed his neck. "Who knows…" He shrugged. "Inuyasha's hard to predict. He could be guilty… but if he is then it's in everyone's best interests if he's proven innocent. We lose our jobs if Inuyasha goes down…"

"Fans lose hope…" Sango added grumpily.

"And he would have learnt his lesson anyway." Kikyo nodded seriously.

Kagome frowned at them all. Jeez… what kind of friends were they?

Honest ones was probably the best answer. They didn't know what Inuyasha was really capable of. No one did. Kikyo probably knew him best and even then Kikyo was probably too far detached from him and everyone else in the world to truly understand. Kagome barely knew him at all… and she had her doubts about his innocence, especially after all the hints that he'd dropped over the past couple of days. 

Had he shot Kouga…?

"Well," Kikyo looked down at her wristwatch in a prim manner. "They should let us speak to him about now."

They stood up and Kagome followed them as they headed towards an adjoining door to the waiting room which was guarded by an officer. "Hey," she said suddenly, causing them all to stop and look back at her. "Can I… talk to him first?"

They looked surprised by her request and Miroku and Sango turned to Kikyo. The agent frowned slightly in confusion, but nodded all the same.

The room they were let into was the stereotypical communication room between prisoners and visitors. It was a fairly long room, divided into two separate zones by a divider with little glass windows and a phone to speak into. It reminded Kagome prominently of bank cash registers… but instead of talking to a bank attendant you'd probably find yourself talking to a bank robber.

She was told to sit down in one of the chairs at the divider and to wait for the 'suspect' as the officers had dubbed Inuyasha. They treated him like he was already guilty though, despite all their politically correct terms. Somehow it was always guilty till proven innocent.

When Inuyasha appeared he didn't exactly look pleased to see her.

"Why am I talking to you?" he asked hotly when he picked up the phone. "I thought I was supposed to be talking to Sango."

"She isn't exactly happy with you." Kagome scowled at him through the glass. "Your plan is going to ruin her reputation."

"If it will save mine, I don't care." He said bluntly.

__

Such an ass… she thought in passing. "Well at least they didn't make you wear black and white stripes." She told him, eyeing the outfit that he'd worn he'd arrived.

"I'm only a suspect, not a prisoner." He was getting impatient. She could tell by the way he rapped his claws on the counter in front of him. 

He was glaring at her mildly, and she stared back just as intently. Trying to identify if that was the face of someone who would try and kill another person. "Did you… did you shoot Kouga?"

His nails stopped drumming and he shrugged. "Nope."

She narrowed her eyes at his flippant attitude. "I'll tell the police that I was with you at quarter past eleven when Kouga got shot." She said quietly.

He snapped a shocked look on her, his eyes widening slightly. "You'll do what?" he breathed in disbelief.

"Not _that _way." She huffed. "I already told them that I don't really like you. I said that I had an argument with you in the gym before storming out. I also said that I went down to your room half an hour later to continue the argument with you."

"But that won't fit in with my story…" he said slowly.

"Well the only reason you didn't tell them about our continued argument was because you thought it would create bad press if it was known that you were arguing with your 'guest'." She said pointedly. "I'll go back and confirm the story… if you do one thing."

"Which is?" he said eagerly.

"Look me in the eye and tell me that you didn't shoot Kouga." She said with a steely seriousness that unsettled him.

He stared into her eyes. "Didn't shoot Kouga. Now go tell them to let me out of here!"

"But you weren't serious!" she said in exasperation. "You don't care if you're serious or not! You'll just say what you have to in order to get out of here! In which case I'm not going to help." She moved to put the phone back down.

"No, no!" he knocked on the glass with his knuckles to get her attention and to stop her leaving. "I'm not lying – I really didn't shoot Kouga!"

She pulled the phone back towards her ear. "All you do is lie and cheat people, Inuyasha. You never say what you really mean and never how you really feel. You seem to think that life is just one big play and if you act your part right then everything will go your way." She narrowed her eyes. "But I'm telling you for the last time… if you don't drop the act and tell me honestly what you did then I am going to let you and your phoney character finish up here."

He tensed and glared at her. "You think I'm lying? You think I really shot him, don't you."

"No. I think you're innocent." She said bluntly. "But I want you to look me in the eye and mean it when you say you didn't do it." She softened slightly. "Please… don't _pretend_ anymore."

He'd had a tough morning. He'd been pulled from a match he'd sorely been looking forward to. He'd been dragged off to the police station like a guilty man and confronted with dry pieces of evidence that framed him for a crime he hadn't committed. So the car belonged to him? A lot of cars belonged to him. So his fingerprints were on the wheel? Chances were he'd probably sat down in the seat a few months ago and wondered if that would be the main car he used when he got his licence.

And not only that… but he'd come face to face with the detective who'd dealt with the 1992 case. Exactly the same man…

He dropped his head into his hand for a moment, rubbing his face as he tried to figure out which tone of voice to use to convince the girl that he was innocent.

Then he realised.

__

Don't bother…

"I didn't do it." He said flatly. No feeling behind the words. No act either. He just said it. "I swear, on my parents' graves that I didn't shoot that idiot. And I didn't send someone else to do it either."

Kagome had watched him for the past few moments, watching his face slowly slacken and grow weary, as if he were almost ageing before her eyes. Then he'd told her the truth, no false sincerity embroidering his words, no flippancy. Just the plain truth.

"I'll keep telling them that I was busy arguing with you when Kouga was shot." She said gently. "You just have to back up what I say and you'll be out of here in no time."

Maybe she wasn't that bad. "You're annoying." He told her. "You know that right?"

"Don't say that, I'm your alibi." She raised an eyebrow. "I may just decide to let you hang."

"You're gonna make me kiss your feet aren't you?" he rolled his eyes. "Only a weirdo like you could bend a superstar over to your whim."

"Your spine is just very weak, that's all." She grinned wryly. "But thank you… for being honest with me."

A tingle of irritation worked through him. It was weak of him just to bow down to her little plea. He forced a smile in return. "Any time. I'm going to give you a big thank you later for your help." He winked at her suggestively, desperately trying to establish some of his previous control. 

Kagome's smile slipped slightly as she realised she'd lost him again. "So I hear you got shot in a gay bar." She flung at him from out of the blue and watched him flinch and twitch.

"Near! NEAR a gay bar!"

~*~

"So did he do it?" Eri asked that night. "Is he guilty?"

"No." Kagome sighed slowly. "He's innocent. I'm certain that he had nothing to do with it. Either someone tried to frame him or it's just an unhappy coincidence that someone used his car to shoot Kouga."

"Or are you just sticking up for him because you're in love with him?" Eri quizzed.

"What?" Kagome pulled a face. "What the hell gave you that impression?!"

"Everyone knows it." Eri said in a bewildered tone. "The way he kissed you at the awards – the way you're sticking by him so firmly when he's been convicted of attempted murder and the dress that you-"

"Eri, believe me, Kouga probably adores him more than I do." Kagome said hotly. She looked down at her bedroom floor as loud music started pumping up from the floor below. She stamped as hard as she could and raised her voice. "He gets on my nerves. He's never straight with anyone and he keeps shirking responsibility and people the way… the way… the way Souta suddenly decides to get a bad back when he's asked to sweep the grounds."

"Jeez… you don't like him do you?" Eri said quietly.

"He has the potential to be better… but if I'm going home tomorrow then I won't see if he gets any better than he is now. Hang on a minute," she covered the mouth piece of the phone with her hand and stomped out onto her balcony to lean over the edge. "WOULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN??!!" she screamed to be heard.

"WHAT?!" Inuyasha shouted back, popping his head out of his room.

"I'M GLAD THAT YOU'RE HAPPY TO BE FREE BUT YOU NEED TO KEEP IT DOWN! I'M ON THE BLEEDING PHONE!!"

"WHAT?!"

Kagome growled irritably and stomped back into her room again, closing the balcony door after her. "Sorry," she said, taking her hand off the mouth piece. "Where was I? So it can't be Inuyasha who shot Kouga anyway because an eyewitness came forward earlier saying that the driver of the silver Porsche had _black_ hair and couldn't possibly have been Inuyasha."

"Of course not." Eri agreed with complete confidence.

"So he's been let off for now… but the police are being a bunch of pigs and saying that he's still suspect for _organising _the shooting." Kagome shook her head. "And Kikyo says that they're going to be paying a few too many visits here over the next few days until the matter is solved."

"Kouga isn't seriously hurt is he?" Eri said incredulously. "I mean… he's a demon. One little bullet won't hurt him that bad… right?"

"The news sugar-coated it, Eri." Kagome told her. "Apparently the shooter practically unloaded a whole clip of bullets from an automatic machine gun into him. If he was human he would probably be lying in splinters over the pavement."

"Ew… Kagome!" Eri squealed. "That's gross."

"Sorry… but it's true!" she defended herself.

"Well… come back tomorrow and tell me all about it in more detail, ok?"

"Ok. I will." Kagome smile and bid goodnight to her friend before hanging up.

She stomped futilely on the floor a bit more before giving up. What did she care? She had a complimentary set of ear plugs waiting to be used in her draw.

She needed a good night's sleep if she wanted a good journey back home tomorrow. She sighed contentedly at the thought of seeing all the familiar faces of her friends and family again. But at the same time… she realised what she would miss out on at the villa…

She'd never find out what happened in 1992…

AN: So is this the end of the story? Nope ^_^ I'm barely half-way through it. And for those of you who are itching to set their sights on some Inu/Kag fluff… then I think you'll like the next chapter if all goes according to plan…


	14. Diva Style

****

Author's Notes: Yep, it all went according to plan and this chapter does contain fluff. Except, not the kind of fluff that will disrupt the continuity of the story line (I know a few people have been _screaming _at me to not add the fluff (and even more telling me I'm not updating fast enough ¬_¬)) but I think those worried about Inuyasha and Kagome falling in love too quickly will be pleasantly surprised. See for yourself ^_^

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 14

Diva Style

"Got your bags packed?" Sango asked as they headed down the stairs for breakfast Saturday morning.

"Well… half done. I'll finish up after lunch." Kagome told her, mindlessly combing her fingers through her hair to straighten it. "What time am I leaving again?"

"For one o'clock. By limo, not taxi," Sango informed her.

"Cool." Kagome couldn't wait to see her family again.

Inuyasha and Miroku were both sitting down in the kitchen eating breakfast when the two girls arrived. Inuyasha glanced up when they entered and spotted Kagome. Suddenly a smile twitched onto his face. "Hurray! She's leaving!"

"Feeling's mutual." Kagome assured him as she took her seat beside him on the counter and loaded her plate with the selection of food on offer. A bit of bacon… toast… hash browns… egg… sausage… hang on, since when were sausages red? "I don't think these sausages are done properly." She told cook as the woman busily tossed some frying vegetables for the entourage's breakfast.

"Not pork sausages. Venison." Cook replied brusquely.

"Venison…?" Kagome stared at the sausages in horror. "These were deer?!"

"No," Inuyasha consoled her. "Quite cheap actually."

"I'm sorry…" Kagome shuffled the sausages back onto their serving platter. "I don't eat Bambi."

"I cried at that film." Miroku input helpfully.

Sango frowned at her. "Deer are practically the same as sheep and cows. They have hooves and big eyes and everything… what's the problem?"

"I'm a vegetarian." Kagome told them. "Save for poultry, fish… and maybe pork…"

"Right." Inuyasha scoffed. "You're a vegetarian. And I'm a non-smoker save for cigarettes."

"Are you making fun of me?" she glared at him.

"And if I am?" he glared back.

Sango, sensing an imminent cat-dog fight converging between them, patted Kagome's arm to drag her attention away. "I have a present for you."

"Really?" Kagome forgot her glaring match with Inuyasha instantly and turned cheerfully to her friend. "What is it?"

"Open it and see." Sango slipped a little box out of her black jacket pocket and set it down in front of Kagome.

"Ooh…" Kagome picked it up opened it carefully, recognising straight away that it was jewellery from the style of the box. When she opened it she gasped in awe. "Wow… that's really pretty!"

Inuyasha glanced down at the necklace in the box and frowned. "I don't get what appeals to women about jewellery." He said. "Females are like magpies… see something shiny and pretty and they swoop over to pick it up and add to their collection."

"Don't be so primitive." Sango scorned him as Kagome continued to admire the necklace.

Kagome had only just finished putting it on when Kikyo arrived with her daily list of things-to-do. "The police will be returning the silver Porsche at half past three when they've finished running their tests." She informed Inuyasha who gave no indication he was listening. "Kouga's doing well… but he won't be fighting for another few weeks so you win the semi-finals be default. Congratulations."

Inuyasha grunted.

"The police want to come round at eleven and ask a few more questions though." Kikyo continued. "And to view our security tapes I suppose. And at one o'clock the limo will be round the front ready to take _you _home." She looked at Kagome. "Nice necklace."

"Thank you." Kagome smiled, fingering the silver pendent.

"And also…" Kikyo slid her attention reluctantly back to Inuyasha. "Fushira Hashimoto has been granted parole… they decided to drop all charges against him and forgo the appeal in a parole meeting yesterday… you weren't invited to add your testimony in light of the fact you were under suspicion of criminal activity."

Kagome glanced uncertainly at Inuyasha with concern. He seemed to be taking it well… considering how he was continuing eating like nothing bothered him. Perhaps he hadn't heard? But Kagome quickly forgot that idea when he said. "They're just going to let him go free?"

"Yes." Kikyo told him evenly.

"Fair enough." He shrugged and went back on eating. Kagome frowned at his profile, wondering why he wasn't blowing up with anger at such news. If she'd heard that her parent's killer was on the loose again she'd either be terrified or very, very angry.

She had a feeling Inuyasha would swing towards the latter emotion and be very, very, _very _pissed. But he carried on eating at a regular pace, half reading a magazine lying open beside his cereal bowl and half concentrating on dissecting his weetabix into equal squares.

Then suddenly he snapped a glare on her. "Would you quit staring at me?"

Kagome quickly averted her gaze to a hanging ladle near her head, realising that perhaps Inuyasha was a little more miffed than she'd thought…

~*~

Kagome… was getting desperate.

Two hours and five minutes to go before she had to leave and she _still _hadn't found out what had happened in 1992. She'd been online and had typed in 'Inuyasha' and '1992' into a search engine, and had come up with nothing very interesting. She'd tried asking Inuyasha himself, his Aunt, his cook, his cleaner and still she had nothing at all satisfying for her curiosity.

So she was resorting to desperate measures.

"I will pay you _this much_…" she held up a money bill between her and Miroku, "…if you tell me what happened in 1992."

Miroku quickly glanced around the empty corridor Kagome had cornered him down, then when he was satisfied they were alone he turned back to her. "Do you know how much Inuyasha pays me?"

Kagome pursed her lips, realising that wasn't the answer she wanted. "Can't say that I do…"

"A lot."

"Uh-huh…"

"Per month."

"I see." 

"And that doesn't include the bonus he pays his employers to keep their mouths shut about certain things… as well as the _contract_ that he made us all sign where we vowed to keep quiet in return for not being sued off our asses."

Kagome lowered the bill. "You're not going to tell me are you." she stated flatly.

"I would," Miroku said considerately. "But telling people the truth doesn't pay my rent."

Kagome quickly offered the bill again. "Yeah, but this will pay for your next playboy magazine."

Miroku's hand began reaching out for the note, almost unconsciously, but the second he realised what he was doing he retracted it sharply back to his side and grinned sheepishly. "Nice trick, Kagome. Better luck next time." He patted her shoulder with the same fixed smile and walked away.

Kagome tucked the money back into her jeans pocket and sighed. This wasn't going well. Miroku soon disappeared from sight around the next bend in the corridor… and a few moments later a maid came along the opposite way. Kagome waved her hand. "Excuse me! Do you know what happened to Inuyasha in 1992?" she called eagerly.

The woman gasped and quickly reversed back out of sight making several religious signs over her chest.

Definitely not a good response… but then again that was basically the same response she'd been getting all week.

Better get on with packing…

Kagome stopped suddenly as she passed one of the windows in the corridor of the second floor. Glancing at her watch, she realised that they were on time. Eleven o'clock. The police had arrived for their questioning and were currently dropping the silver Porsche off in the garage.

Inuyasha would probably be put in a bad mood all day with their questions… but hey! What did Kagome care? She was leaving in two hours anyway.

~*~

"Find anything interesting?" Inuyasha drawled as the chatty detective from the previous day drew closer to the main entrance of the villa. He stood on the steps with Kikyo a short distance behind him. If he turned around and looked at her he'd probably see her sending him a few deadly warning glares. He didn't care.

"In the car?" the detective responded with a vague shrug. "We found a few short black hairs that don't match any DNA profile we have on file."

"You know…" Inuyasha turned to look at Kikyo and spoke to her in a loud conversational way that he made sure the detective would here. "CSI would have been able to deduct who the criminal was by now. As well as what he ate for breakfast and whether or not he likes his coffee black or white."

Kikyo was indeed shooting warning looks at him.

"Very funny, sir." The detective gave a very dry smile, obviously not humoured in any way. "If we can go inside and answer a few questions?" he gestured towards the doors before turning to look back at his fellow police officers. "Sweep the grounds for evidence!"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes in annoyance. There was no point protesting loudly against any searches since this guy would undoubtedly have thought ahead and gotten a warrant in case Inuyasha had done just that. The best way to annoy the man would be to avoid any protest and let him think that warrant was going to waste.

"If you'd come this way, please?" Kikyo said evenly to the detective and led the man inside the villa. Inuyasha trailed reluctantly behind them, secretly thinking of many, _many _unpleasant ways to dismember the man in front of him.

Kikyo chose her own office as the 'interrogation' room and both she and Inuyasha were rather offended and thrown-off by the way the detective presumptuously chose Kikyo's seat to sit in, gesturing them to sit in the two chairs opposite as if _he _were the owner of the place. "Take a seat." He told them.

Neither of them moved. Kikyo just wasn't used to having anyone boss _her _around, and Inuyasha just wouldn't sit down out of sheer stubbornness before she did.

Eventually they both moved forward in a joint effort and slid into their seats glaring daggers at the man opposite.

"Now." The detective leaned forward to rest his elbows on the desk, interlocking his fingers before his chin. "As I'm sure you're already aware of, Kouga has regained consciousness and has been talking to us."

"About damn time…" Inuyasha muttered resentfully.

"He says that the man who shot him was a human. Middle-aged. And under your employment." He consulted a notepad that had been stashed away in his breast pocket. "Kouga describes him as 'bouncer-like'. Undoubtedly your hitman?"

"My hitman is a woman. Wrong person." Inuyasha said flatly.

"He's not serious." Kikyo quickly amended with a glare at Inuyasha. "Neither I nor Inuyasha have ever employed a 'hitman' for our services."

"Noted." Chatty detective jotted her statement down. Inuyasha narrowed his eyes, knowing that the man would probably make it his mission to prove them wrong.

"I'm under the impression that you were in the headlines a lot last year, Inuyasha." The detective was back to the first name basis. "But on rather more negative subjects."

No point playing dumb. "You mean the situation where I was allegedly involved in a shoot-out gang warfare over an illegal shipment of drugs from Taiwan?"

"Care to shed some light on the topic?" the man gave him a concentrated look.

"Not really."

Kikyo cleared her throat. "Shed some light Inuyasha."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes and folded his arms like the surly teenager he was. "The whole thing was blown completely out of proportion and only a quarter of the story was true."

"Which quarter would that be?"

"The quarter where I got shot." Inuyasha told him evenly, staring him straight in the eye. "One evening when I was walking back to my ride with a group of friends, a man with a gun who just happened to be on his way to pick-up his monthly ration of drugs from a Taiwanese vendor down in the port, recognised one of my friends as a member of a gang which rivalled his own, and so the moment he recognised me as Inuyasha he chose to shoot me instead."

"In a gay bar if I'm not mistaken."

"Near a gay bar." Corrected Inuyasha patiently. 

"So you admittedly associate yourself with gangs?" the detective quizzed.

"We're all in a gang of some sort and of some size." Inuyasha shrugged. "You and all your police cronies are probably the biggest, most out-of-control gangs of all."

Kikyo leaned slowly towards him. "You are _not _helping yourself."

"Is this a face that cares?" he answered in the same dangerous tone she'd applied.

"You've still not answered my question." The detective was ignoring the little jab Inuyasha had made about his department. "Are you involved in any gangs?"

Inuyasha slowly drew his hands behind his head in a gesture of total apathy. "No comment."

"Of course." The detective jotted more notes down as he talked. "I'm also aware that your parents died in nineteen-ninety-seven-"

"Which has nothing to do with anything now, so I'd appreciate it if you shut your trap about it." Inuyasha snapped rather suddenly. Obviously a nerve had been touched.

"I was only going to inquire as to who acted as your guardian after this accident." The detective said innocently.

"My Aunt. Father's side."

"Is she around?"

"No." Inuyasha shrugged, glaring at the man for all he was worth now.

The interview was turning ugly.

~*~

"Shower cap… shower… cap… Ahah!" Kagome pushed her hand along the shelf in the bathroom, sweeping all the contents into the awaiting bag beneath. A few soaps, some complimentary shower gel… she'd smell like a superstar for at least a month!

"Now where was that sewing kit…?" she went to hunt around her room for more freebies to take home.

~*~

"So where's your little friend?" Inuyasha asked in a not-so nonchalant way. "I'm sure you had a quiet little man next to you yesterday."

"Detective Sano." The man shrugged. "I appealed for him to be taken off this case."

Inuyasha's brow lowered slightly. "Oh?"

"I felt he may have been too personally involved already with the inhabitants of this villa to act as an unprejudiced, reliable officer." The detective told him evenly. "After all, you've already dealt with him before."

"I remember." Inuyasha narrowed his eyes.

"And as _I _remember, he didn't do a particularly efficient job back then." The detective said derogatorily. 

"You have no right to say that!" Inuyasha barked at him suddenly. "You weren't there in 1992 – you wouldn't know!"

"I was there in the aftermath." The detective shrugged in a reasonable way. "All those bodies that had to be buried… if Detective Sano had done something sooner then perhaps a lot of that death would have been avoided."

Inuyasha was stiffening up in his chair and Kikyo cast a startled glance between the two men before fixing her sights solely on the detective. "What are you doing?" she breathed in a hiss.

The detective glanced at her in an almost bored manner. "I'm merely pointing out the fact that people with rather obvious childhood traumas do _not _grow up into the type of people that fit in with society at the best of times. People like him," he flicked a brief nod of the head to Inuyasha, "cannot be trusted completely. So how can you be so sure that he isn't screwed up enough to consider doing something like-"

The man was unable to continue his 'point' when he found himself knocked completely out of the chair and dragged along the floor to be pinned against the window by a _very _irate superstar.

"Inuyasha!" Kikyo jumped out of her seat in alarm.

Inuyasha ground his hand tighter around the man's throat, incurring some interesting choking sounds. "This isn't 1992 anymore!" He snarled in the detective's face, pressing him nice and tight against the glass window behind him which overlooked the pool. "Why can't you just get over it and forget!"

"Inuyasha! Put him down!" Kikyo marched over to tug on his shoulder. But Inuyasha simply ignored her, she was just a vague nuisance on the edge of his mind now. The _detective_ was deemed of more worthy attention.

"_You _didn't see what I saw!" Inuyasha allowed his claws to prick into his neck as the man struggled futilely against his grip, turning some drastic colourful shades of red and purple in the face. "You have _no right _to say that shit to me – do you understand?!"

Either he didn't hear, or he didn't understand. Or maybe he just couldn't nod with Inuyasha knuckles crammed under his jaw.

"I said **_do you understand?!_**" he growled louder.

When the detective still didn't acknowledge him, probably too busy fighting for air, Inuyasha decided he'd had enough. With his free hand he jerked open the window next to them and hauled the detective into the opening.

"NO!" Kikyo shouted, but all too late.

The detective was already falling… and with a loud splash and outward explosion of water, he hit the surface of the pool. Only a foot away from the stone rim as well…

Kikyo shoved Inuyasha aside to peer out of the window, gaping in shock as the startled detective surfaced, splashing around like a very unhappy feline in the water, coughing and choking for breath. She turned slowly back to Inuyasha with a dangerous look. "You really shouldn't have done that…"

Inuyasha glared down at him. "You're right. I should have killed him." He turned and swept out of the office. Kikyo shot after him, sensing more upcoming disasters. "Where are you going?!" she called.

"To kill him!" Inuyasha yelled back over his shoulder to her.

Kikyo lost her heels in a desperate attempt to catch up to him. It was enough, and she whirled to a halt in front of him just as he reached the top of the stairs. She stretched out her arms and looked up at him with challenge. "Don't you dare think about it. If you go down those steps I will never work for you again – because you'll be in prison!" 

"I don't care! Get out of my way!" he seemed unwilling to push her away, probably knowing that she would go tumbling down the steps and break her neck.

"I know he upset you, but deal with it." she hissed. "Go back to your room. Don't make this any bigger deal than it already is."

He closed his eyes in a fleeting half-grimace, half-frown. He struggled with some internal-battle that he both lost and won. With an angry sound in the back of his throat he whipped away from her and stormed away down the corridor, heading for his room… the only place in the world that would probably offer him complete solitude and peace.

But that formerly cold, wilted feeling inside of him had been stoked far too many times recently. It had started when _she _had arrived and since that morning a hard sequence of events had been building up on him. Hashimoto's parole. The match with Kouga being cancelled. The fact that he would be entering the finals with everyone believing he'd hitched an easy win in the last round. And now this chatty detective's rather insensitive and accusatory remarks about a time in his life that he hoped to be able to block from memory one day.

That cold lump in his chest welled and flared to the point where he couldn't contain it anymore.

The moment he slammed his bedroom door he really let the room have it…

~*~

"Toothbrush… hairbrush… deodorant…" Kagome ticked off the list of supplies that she'd brought with her, making sure she wasn't about to forget anything important. 

Kagome was always liable to forget _something_. And of course, she'd only ever remember what she'd forgotten when she was too far away to come back and fetch it. She cast a look around the warm beige colours of the guest room and sighed with a small smile. Having all this space to herself was a lovely change, but in a way she would be happier in her own cramped little bedroom with her single bed with the _soul_. She missed her creaky bookcase that sat next to her desk and she missed her purple pen pot that had sat on said desk since she'd received it as a tenth Christmas present. 

She didn't have a balcony back home, but then she'd never really needed one so she wouldn't miss its advantage too much.

Oh, and she probably missed her family a little as well… but maybe not as much as her pen pot. She smiled at that thought and dragged her suitcases towards the door. Sango had told her to leave them outside her bedroom before one o'clock to be picked up by the porters could take them out to the limo for her.

She was just opening her door and lugging the two big suitcases onto the landing just outside when she stopped as she heard some odd noises in the distance. Stilling her movements she lifted her head to listen.

It sounding like someone was shouting… no, more than one person… more like a group. She would be willing to bet that the woman was Kikyo. Above the rest of the rabble she could only make out who she thought could be Miroku.

Dropping her bags without a second thought she padded quietly down the corridor, heading towards the source of the noise that seemed to be emanating from the stairs. She moved down the steps with a curious frown marring her expression. Was there some sort of collective argument going on down there?

Kagome peeped around the corner at the bottom of the flight of stairs on the first floor and saw them.

A group of eleven or so people had gathered outside Inuyasha's bedroom door. Miroku and several other strong looking men where collectively rearing back and slamming what looked like a statue of a scantily clad woman against the door. It was only a metre long, but Miroku had somehow managed to get his hands on the suitable appendages of the stone model as they slammed the square base against the wooden panels.

Nearby Sango was shouting periodically. "Open the door!" or "Don't be stupid!" And just a little distance from them stood a shoeless Kikyo having a rather heated argument with a wet police detective.

Kagome frowned at this odd scene, wondering what on earth was going on… but over everyone's shouts and the slamming of the of the statue against the door, she could hear the faint sounds of destruction from within the bedroom. A loud tinkled chorus sounded as glass smashed, and more dull wooden sounds as furniture seemed to be abused.

What was Inuyasha _doing _in there?

The group was having very little luck getting inside the room, and Kagome knew that obviously Inuyasha had done something like push a wardrobe in front of the door to stop people getting inside.

But his balcony would be pretty much unguarded, right?

Kagome chewed her lip a moment, wondering if she should bring someone with her… before deciding that Inuyasha obviously didn't seem to want a lot of company right then. She'd rather go it alone anyway…

Without a backward glance at the group she dashed up the flight of stairs again and onto the second floor corridor. Her bedroom door was still open thanks to the suitcase she'd only hauled halfway out of the room. She hoped over the luggage without a second to spare and shot over to the balcony.

No sooner had she opened the glass door than she heard another high pitched smash from below her.

A television arched through the air, turning slowly in a rotation as it descended back towards the pull of gravity. Kagome couldn't bare to tear her gaze away as she watched in a sort of stricken fascination as it drew closer to the patio next to the pool… and smashed into several pieces upon impact.

Kagome winced and wondered if she should rethink her decision of going down there…

But in the end her incurable nature to get involved in affairs that were none of her business got the better of her.

Inuyasha's room was a great deal larger than her own, which also meant that his balcony was a great deal larger than hers as well. It was at least two metres wider on each side and protruded several feet more away from the building than her own, giving her plenty of space for a landing platform. But that still didn't mean her knees shook any less as she rigidly climbed over the stone wall surrounding her little balcony.

Looking down, her eyes seemed to like focusing on the patio far below rather Inuyasha's balcony. She steeled her nerves and lowered herself as far as possible. It wasn't a very far drop down to the next level, but if she overbalanced then what would stop her keeling over the wall and falling the rest of the way.

She could already hear her mother's voice in her head scolding her for doing something so risky and dangerous. However, Kagome made it a habit of ignoring good advice and prepared herself for the drop.

She let go.

It was only a small breath-taking moment before Inuyasha's balcony met her feet. It was sooner than she'd expected and she _did _overbalance… though fortunately she only sprawled forward across the stone floor, breathing hard, but pretty sure that she was out of danger.

But now she could plainly hear what was going on in that bedroom.

Little white and brown feathers floated out of the jagged holes in the French windows, drifting along with the breeze like eerie cherry blossoms, completely in contrast to the heavy sounds of destruction from within the room.

Kagome quickly pushed herself upright and to her feet. She reached timidly for the small brass handle of the balcony door and paused a moment to gather her courage before pulling it towards her. The door opened with a jerked, broken action that jarred the whole frame, sending little shards of glass raining down. She stepped over them and entered…

…Into complete chaos.

"Oh my…god…" she breathed inaudibly as she gaped at the ruins.

Inuyasha was in the process of tearing the room to shreds. Feathers from the shredded mattress whirled around in a maelstrom, obscuring Kagome's vision of what else was going on in the room. She could see the door thudding in its frame, but there was no way they would break past the four poster bed that had been scrammed against it.

Everything else was in tatters.

"What are you doing?!" she yelled at Inuyasha who was currently tearing out the contents of his bookcase. She'd never noticed that he'd had one before, but now its books and their torn pages lay scattered around as he threw them on the ground one by one with a sort of methodical carelessness. "Inuyasha!"

"I'm fine!" he snapped angrily.

"What the hell's the matter with you?!" she yelled. A feather got caught in her mouth as she inhaled and she spent the next few seconds coughing to try and free her airways.

It was like a blizzard.

"Why aren't you out there with the others?!" he demanded back, now finished with tearing his books and papers out and so had moved onto the shelves, ripping them out with a rage-induced determination before hurling them towards the balcony windows.

Kagome quickly ducked to the side to avoid being hit by flying objects. "This is insane!" she yelled. "Why are you wrecking your room like this?!"

"This _isn't _my room! And I'm NOT insane!" he yelled back.

The door had stopped banging. Kagome couldn't hear much of what was going on out there due to Inuyasha's careless destruction, but she reckoned they'd heard her voice and knew she was inside.

"You are freaking insane!" she said hotly, almost scared for him. "Only insane people do these kind of things!"

He lost interest in the bookcase and spun on her, gripping her arms painfully. "I'm not insane! I'm fine! I'm just fine!!"

He threw her down on the shredded mattress and moved off through the storm of feathers to pick up the leg of a table that he'd previously smashed, wielding it like a baseball bat. For a horrible moment she thought he would turn it on her… but instead he turn it on his own mirror, shattering the reflection and beginning work on the frame it was mounted on.

__

He's nuts… she concluded seriously as she rose from the bed, ignoring the wads of feathers that clung to her hair and clothes, and instead stared at him… trying to understand.

It was so easy to say he was crazy. Or say that he was having a diva moment as was per usual. But Kagome just didn't see a diva trashing items only because they were replaceable, and she didn't see a crackpot either.

It was like watching a six year old throw a tantrum in agonising frustration.

She found her feet again and moved towards him, trying to dodge the flurry of feathers that whirled around the air in his wake. He still battered away relentlessly at the demolished mirror and Kagome wasn't sure how close she wanted to get.

But then he turned, ignoring her, intent on ripping more damage to the bed behind her. She caught his wrists halfway and drew him around to face her. "Stop it!" 

He screwed his face up and made to shake her off like an annoying insect. She tightened her grip and gave him a shake a shake. "Inuyasha-!"

"I'm fine!" Was that the only thing he was capable of expressing?

"You're not fine!" she shouted back, making sure not to slacken her fingers around his forearms. "'Fine' people don't do this!"

He didn't care what she had to say. "But I'm-"

"_Listen _to me!" she refused to let him go. "You're not fine… you need help."

He stared into her face blankly for a long time… before eventually he inched his gaze from her to look around the room as if seeing it for the first time. His hands loosened around his make-shift club and it clattered to the ground with a hollow, empty sound in the suddenly quiet room.

He pulled back from her, forcing her to release her hold on him as he ran his hands through his hair and backed up against the wall. He didn't look surprised or shocked by what he'd done, not even angry.

Just ashamed.

Despite her rather intense dislike of him, she couldn't stop the way her heart squeezed her chest, going out for him. But she didn't dare move a step closer to him, even as he slid down the wall till he sat in a heap with his legs drawn to his chest.

The boy with the inspiring presence with bags of self-esteem and confidence seemed strangely small now…

He just stared dully at the ground, as if in a trance. Kagome didn't know what to do. Should she go now? But it wasn't like she could leave… she couldn't fly back up to her own balcony and she didn't possess the strength to peel the bed away from the door. The quiet was making her nervous. Until she heard voices outside.

"…I don't hear anything…" it sounded like Miroku. "Inuyasha? Kagome? What's happening? What's going on?"

"It's ok!" Kagome called back earnestly. "It's alright, you don't have to worry." She turned to look back at Inuyasha, half hoping that he'd come back to his senses and stop acting so strange.

She wasn't prepared for the way his head fell forward into the arms hugging his knees… when he began to shake with silent sobs.

Her mouth dropped open in a soundless gasp, but all the shock and dislike in the world couldn't have stopped her from moving forward towards where he sat, hunched. "Please don't…" she whispered as she eased herself down next to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulders like she'd done so many times for her little brother. "…It's ok…" she stroked his back soothingly, forgetting all too easily in this circumstance that he was a world wide superstar and she was a middle-class nobody whom the world would forget after today. "Please don't cry… it'll be ok…"

He nodded quickly with his head still tightly pressed into his arms, but he didn't stop shaking.

Then he turned under her arm in a move that really did remind her of Souta. He rested his head on her chest, close to her shoulder and clenched a fist into her cotton shirt at her stomach. She frowned ever so slightly in confusion, but hugged her arm tightly around him and placed her free hand on his cheek, feeling the moisture of his tears as real proof that he wasn't just pulling a fast one on her.

It was slightly awkward. Kagome was only used to comforting her younger brother who was barely out of his single digit years and had been prone to many tantrums and tears. He was also a lot smaller.

"It's ok…" she breathed sadly as she rested her cheek against the top of his head, wondering what on earth could possibly move such a normally stable person like Inuyasha to tears.

At the end of the day she could only reason that he was simply just a child forced to grow up too soon…

There were bound to be consequences one day.

AN: Now see? Not exactly romantic fluff…


	15. Bruised Ego?

****

Author's Notes: I know that this chapter is disgustingly shorter than usual, but I didn't want to add the last scene (I'll save that for the beginning of the next chapter) mostly because they were two very different tones Funny/Serious.

Nevermind. Anyway, enjoy what I have so far. (sorry)

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 15

Bruised Ego?

He'd fallen asleep.

Kagome glanced at her watch with mounting concern… it was getting close to half past twelve. She only had half an hour before she had to leave, but she could see no obvious way of escape. The bed was still up against the door and the balcony was still too far away from the ground to consider jumping safely. And Inuyasha was still on her stomach. But not that she really wanted to leave… something compelled her to stay with him as some sort of comfort even as he slept.

That was it. She was officially an old mother hen.

She sighed softly, wondering why she was even bothered with this idiot. Maybe it was because she'd only just realised how completely and utterly useless he was? Or maybe because she took after her mother in this area and was too soft-hearted for her own good?

Whatever it was… she was liable to agree with her mother this time that maybe she could at least _try_ to help him, whatever his secret problem might be.

Their position had changed somewhat over the last hour or so. Her secure seat with her back against the wall had been making her rear fall asleep, so she'd been discreetly sliding down, taking Inuyasha with her until she was almost flat on her back with only her shoulders and head propped against the wall.

Inuyasha slept soundly against her stomach.

Kagome thought back to what her mother had said to her on her first night there at the villa. "So change him, why don't you." Maybe that wasn't exactly what she'd said but that was the basic idea. And Kagome would have _liked _to change him in some way… not to transform him into some wonderful person who could actually be likeable for a change, but more like help him sort out whatever it was that was bothering him.

He said he had an identity crisis? So… what was she supposed to do in order to help him with that? It wasn't like she could find the real him and say "Look, this is you, get acquainted!' or something. It just wasn't going to be that easy… and Kagome had no idea or experience that would help her help him.

She idly twirled a lock of white hair around her index finger as she tried to sort out what she was supposed to do. If she went home now then there was a good chance that this whole ordeal would be ignored and Inuyasha would get worse and worse until he cracked up and had to be wheeled to a loony-bin in a straight-jacket. No one deserved that. Not if it could be helped.

His employers wouldn't be able to do anything. If any of them tried to confront him about the 'things-which-should-not-be-talked-about' then they would likely get fired in order to spare Inuyasha from having to (heaven forbid) confront his feelings. 

What he needed was someone who had nothing to lose. Someone he couldn't just push away because it was convenient…

__

Someone like me? She mused.

__

And then what? She had to ask herself. Would she sit him down on a couch and talk to him about dreams and the subconscious mind, telling him that his anger and misery was a manifestation of some childhood trauma that he was refusing to deal with?

He'd laugh and tell her she was seeing things that weren't there…

So what else could she do, other than stay close and hope that at some time or another he would tell her what had happened in 1992. And then maybe he'd find the road to wherever it was he was supposed to be going in life. Or maybe they'd all discover how irreparably damaged he was and get no where…

But how was she supposed to be able to stick around long enough to get to know him enough so he'd be comfortable actually _talking _to her?

The midday heat was beginning to build. Kagome glanced towards the broken and mangled French windows and realised there was hardly any breeze outside now. The feathers lying on the floor next to the opening and the ones out on the balcony were barely twitching.

And the temperature in the bedroom was steadily climbing.

Kagome wanted to squirm and loosen her collar slightly, but she was afraid that if she did that then Inuyasha would wake up. She wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. No doubt he was going to be suffering a very big bruise to his ego thanks to this little incident, and she didn't want to be on the receiving end of his wrath any time soon.

Also, while he slept, his dreams appeared untroubled. The minute he woke up the poor boy's reality would come crashing back into focus and he'd be the same miserable sod he'd always been.

Kagome wanted to delay that too.

But the heat was also making her drowsy as well as uncomfortably clammy. She brushed a hand against her forehead, pushing her hair out of her eyes in an attempt to cool down and blew out a heavy sigh as she let her eyes fall closed. Just for a moment… she just needed to relax a moment.

It felt like she'd only dozed off for a moment, but she was pulled slowly back into the real world when she heard a distant scraping sound of furniture being moved.

Automatically her hand reached out to touch Inuyasha, to check he was still safely beside her… but when her fingers fell against her hip instead of his shoulder she realised he was gone. That jerked her awake better than any ice cold bucket of water could. With a sharp intake of breath she sat up and snapped her eyes open…

…Only in time to see the bedroom door swing shut in a rather violent manner. She flinched as it smacked and shuddered into its frame and winced as she looked around the room.

Someone, probably Inuyasha, had just left in a big huff. In the time it had taken her to rouse, he'd pulled the bed back away from the door and stormed out. Feathers drifted lazily across the floor in his wake, covering the floorboards like a layer of snow.

Well… there was no helping it now…

Kagome rose carefully to her feet and kicked her way through the feathers to get to the door, though ended up nearly tripping over a piece of the dresser in the process. No one was outside when she left the room, obviously they had been satisfied that the everything was fine when the quiet had replaced the sounds of destruction and had wondered off to get back on with their lives.

It was almost one o'clock now… surely someone would be looking to take her home by now.

"Hey, Kagome!"

Speak of the devil. She turned to see Sango hurrying towards her. "Come on, girl, you're gonna be late home if you don't hurry." She grabbed Kagome's arm as she raced past, dragging her towards the elevator. "Good job calming Inuyasha down by the way."

"Did I?" Kagome said vaguely as she staggered to a halt in the mirrored cell of the elevator.

Sango punched the button for the ground floor. "Yeah. Usually when he gets in a strop he doesn't come out of it for ages." She tapped her foot impatiently as the doors slid close slowly.

"Did you see where he went?" Kagome asked her anxiously.

"When?" Sango blinked at her.

"Just now."

"Uh… no." the girl shrugged. "Did you say your goodbyes though?"

Kagome hesitated before smiling and nodding. Sango smiled back. "Good. Then we're all set to go." She slanted a thoughtful look at Kagome. "Though… with your ability to calm Inuyasha down it might just be useful to keep you around a little bit longer…"

Kagome met Sango's thoughtful look with one of her own.

~*~

"I'm ho~ome!" Kagome called as she dragged her suitcases through the open front door. "Man this house is small…"

"Kagome – it's Kagome!" she heard her little brother's shriek from somewhere deeper in the house. "She's back!"

He appeared at the top of the steps and bundled himself down them before launching himself into Kagome's arms. She laughed and squeezed him back just as tightly, never realising how grateful she was to be around a semi-stable young man for once.

"Wait – wait!" he suddenly pulled back, much to her surprise and stuck his hand out to her. "Shake my hand!"

"What?" she gave him a puzzled frown.

"Shake my hand!"

Kagome shook it in bemusement.

"Cool!" Souta stared at his hand like it was made of pure gold. "I've now shook the hand of the girl who shook Inuyasha's hand! MOM! MOM – shake my hand!"

Mrs Higurashi sailed straight out of the kitchen, past her son and enveloped Kagome in a warm embrace. "Oh – we missed you!" she smiled widely at her daughter as she drew back. "How was it?"

"Great!" Apart from the whole finding OD'd bodies on the beach, being bullied and insulted for seven days, being publicly humiliated, and all around misery-fied… "Just great!" Maybe some of Inuyasha's natural acting skills were rubbing off on her.

"That's good." Her mother drew her and her bags out of the doorway and shut the door. She led Kagome into the living room with Souta and leaned out the window. "Dad – guess who's back!"

Grandpa's head popped into view beside Mrs Higurashi's. "Ah – Kagome! Where've you been all week?"

Kagome blinked at him drolly. "At Inuyasha's villa?"

"Now is he the one with the red hair and the good manners or the-"

"That's Hojo." Kagome corrected swiftly. "Don't worry about it Grandpa, come in here, I've got loads to tell you guys."

And so she proceeded to tell them her whole seven days in seven minutes… the heavily edited version. From the first ride back to the villa in a limo with Inuyasha (cutting out a few swear words and other basic negatives) to that very morning when she'd had breakfast in the kitchen with Inuyasha.

She left out the parts where she'd cried, where he'd cried, where he'd taken drugs, where she had had to take drugs just to deal with the idea of him taking drugs (aspirin of course, not crack cocaine) and of course the part where the bomb had gone off in the room above her.

"But what about yesterday?" Souta butted in towards the end of her stories. "Wasn't he arrested for the murder of-"

"No one was killed." Kagome admonished him. "And he wasn't really arrested… just taken into custody for _suspicion _of _attempted _murder."

This did nothing to reassure the older pair of Higurashi's judging by their misgiving expressions. Kagome shrugged at them. "Don't worry, he didn't do it. He told me so."

"I knew he didn't do it." Souta said firmly. "Inuyasha's too cool to kill someone in the middle of the street. He'd be smart and do it a sneaky, cunning way that the police would never be able to catch him for."

"Don't bet on it." Kagome said flatly, knowing Inuyasha didn't put _that _much thought into the things he did. "Anyway, it's all been cleared up. Inuyasha isn't in custody anymore."

"Bit of a bad end to a nice holiday." Mrs Higurashi smiled compassionately, "Never mind. At least you can settle back down into your humble home and get back on with your-"

"Actually…" Kagome jumped in hesitantly. "Actually… I plan to go back next Monday…"

They all stared at her, unblinking.

"…if that's ok with you?" Kagome looked at them all, awaiting their response. Grandpa leaned over to his daughter and spoke in stage-whisper. "_Where's she going again?_"

Souta cocked his head. "Did Inuyasha invite you back?" he asked uncertainly.

Kagome shook her head. "Not exactly… well… Sango's trying to sort it out now, and if all goes well she'll call me tonight and tell me if I'm coming back or not."

"You want to go back?" Her mother looked confused. "But I thought you were looking forward to coming back…?"

"Well, something came up. Last minute thing." Kagome told her awkwardly. She didn't really want to go into details about _why _she wanted to go back. It was too confusing, even for Kagome.

~*~

Sango came to a short stop right in front of Miroku, his desk, and his little laptop. "Miroku, I need you're help."

"Can it wait, I'm a little busy." His whole concentration was on the screen of his laptop.

"It's urgent." She insisted, planting a fist on her hip.

"Shh, shh!" he held a finger to his lips, still staring at his screen. "I'm in a lesbian chat room…" he didn't notice the way Sango's fist slipped off her hip in shock. "Mindy's coming onto Mandy… but I reckon they're the same person. Deceiving little-"

"You do realise that everyone in that chat room is probably a man posing as a fit blonde twenty year old?" Sango pointed out dryly. "Like you?"

"No, I'm Jura – nineteen year old red-head. I'm also one part American, one part Shepherd's Bush- Hey!!"

Sango's hand had slammed down the laptop, nearly sandwiching his fingers between the screen and the keypad. She leaned down to be eye level with him, a deadly serious expression on her face. "I need your help."

Miroku sniffed, a little offended that she'd ended his chat room session. "With what?" he asked in a sulky way.

"With convincing Kikyo," Sango wheeled over another chair and planted herself down on it, resting her elbows on the desk. Obviously she was intending to stay. "Have you seen Inuyasha today, by the way?"

"I think he's out… doing… something… I don't know." Miroku shrugged and locked his hands together behind his head as he leant back to regard her suspiciously. "Why?"

"He's obviously still in that strop." Sango waved a hand dissmissively. "But the point is that he'd still be tearing apart his room if Kagome hadn't put a stop to it."

Miroku nodded slightly, willing to admit that she was probably right. "What did she do anyway?" he asked. All he knew was that he'd heard Kagome's shouts from inside the room and then everything had gone quiet. She'd called to them, saying everything was ok, so they'd hung around for a few more minutes before deciding everything was back to normal and they had wondered off. Miroku hadn't seen either of them since.

"I don't know what she did." Sango shrugged mildly. "But you know… I think that the best thing for Inuyasha would be to keep her here."

Miroku blinked at her. "But she's gone."

"We can bring her back." Sango countered.

"But I thought she didn't like him. She won't want to keep him company."

"She's already agreed to do it."

Miroku leant forward, planting his hands over his laptop. "We can't just bring her back out of the blue. People already suspect something strange is going on between her and Inuyasha… and if she's invited back for another week then everyone will go mad with gossip."

"So?" Sango shrugged. "You're the one that filters the information to the public. You can control what they hear and can supply a reason for her invite back to the villa."

He scratched his forehead, still a little reluctant. "I don't know… seems more trouble than its worth to me…"

Sango rolled her eyes. "Look. All we have to do is convince Kikyo that bringing Kagome back is a good publicity move. She won't be able to get hold of that girl fast enough, especially when we tell her that Kagome is more than willing to return."

"Inuyasha will send her straight back!"

"No he won't. If it's Kikyo who's decided to bring her over then he won't argue." Sango folded her arms and arched an eyebrow. "Come on… what have you got to lose?"

"My job?" he guessed. "If Inuyasha find out that it was _us _who-"

"Don't be stupid." She admonished. "Inuyasha needs this."

Miroku stared at her apprehensively, realising how serious and unwaveringly determined she was. With a reluctant sigh he nodded. It meant talking to Kikyo… but perhaps in the long run it would be better for all of them if Kagome came back.

~*~

The tide was up for the evening and the beach had long been closed off from the public. The approaching dusk made the sand bearably warm instead of scorching hot, just nice to sit on and wiggle his toes in.

Inuyasha sighed deeply and reclined back on one hand while he absently rubbed one of his ears. It had an ache at that base that seemed to be permeating into a full on headache, possibly a migraine. He dropped his hand back to the sand and set about ignoring it. It was the only cure he knew… seeing as how aspirin or ibuprofen never seemed to work, something to do with his chemistry.

But despite the tolerable ache, he was fairly satisfied. Kagome had gone home that day, which meant no more personal intrusion on her part and no more problems with holding onto his control.

He was already deeply ashamed of himself. Crying for gods sakes… in front of _her _no less. Grown men didn't cry! That was something only wimpy little boys did… he'd never been one to succumb to tears before. Even when his parents had died… he'd been deeply hurt and aggrieved… but he'd never cried.

In fact, come to think of it, he hadn't cried since 1992…

He was drawn out of his broody thoughts when he heard a familiar bark somewhere behind him. He knew that bark anywhere.

Inuyasha swivelled to face the cliffs and looked towards the steps cut out into the rocks. A small framed German Shepherd was bounding heedlessly down them towards the beach. He narrowed his eyes with a sigh, but he still couldn't help but smile. "Here, Bess! Good girl!" He slapped his knee and whistled.

The bitch slunk through the dusty sand towards him and promptly rolled onto her back beside his knee, exposing her belly for the usual treat. Inuyasha tickled her tummy lightly with his claws, smiling at the way she squirmed beside him.

Normally Bess would have lain like that for as long as the human was willing, but this dog knew that Inuyasha wasn't the average human… because for one thing, he knew how to pet ears _properly_. It wasn't long before she rolled the right way up and propped her head on his knee, silently hinting what she wanted. Inuyasha stroked her head quietly, gazing off to sea while rubbing her ears the way he liked his own rubbed.

Within half a minute Bess was in a trance, eyes closed and tongue lolling happily. But even the act of stroking her ears was mesmerising for Inuyasha and he soon began spacing off, staring off into the distance without actually seeing… petting the dog with no real concentration.

__

"You like puppies don't you, Inuyasha?" A laugh. "Of course you do, you're practically related."

Inuyasha frowned slightly, his thoughts taking him to memories that were best left alone. But for some reason he didn't seem able to attempt to interrupt them seriously.

__

"This one's a Labrador."

"Like the Andrex puppy?"

"But this one's black."

His eyes began falling half closed and his hand slowed their work on Bess' ears. Not that she seemed to care.

__

"You can stroke it if you want."

Silence.

Inuyasha's hand ceased against Bess' ears altogether. 

__

"Go on. It won't bite you."

"…but…"

"Go on. Stroke it."

A hand timidly reached out, touched the puppy's head between the ears, hesitantly skimming fur with fingers.

"…Feels nice…"

A gun hammer clicked back.

****

BANG!

Inuyasha flinched heavily, the hand that had been petting Bess flew to his face, trying to wipe away the sickeningly warm blood. But when he drew his hand away there was nothing to be seen for it…

The beach slowly melted back into focus, and the ghost-like sensation of blood on his face and lips disappeared completely. He lowered his hand and blinked at Bess who blinked back at him, clearly confused as to why he'd stopped petting her. A small twinge of annoyance was enough to douse the shock of the flashback. Inuyasha's fingers curled into tightly clenched fists and he thumped one down in the ground, spraying Bess with sand.

The dog pranced away with a yelp.

"Go back home, Bess!" he commanded snappishly before drawing his knees to his chest and propping his chin on them, scowling heavily as he gazed off to sea.

He didn't need to turn and look to know that Bess was scuttling back up the steps as fast as her runt legs could carry her. He closed his eyes tightly and tried to think of something more positive, something that wouldn't make him shake like a leaf.

The only positive image his mind could conjure… was Kagome.

"What has she done to me…?"

AN: A thousand words less than usual… hmmm… sorry about this.


	16. Jury Duty

****

Author's Notes: I've had a wonderful day so far ^_^ Finally selected the puppy that will be joining our family in the future. We won't be getting him till the 27th of December since he's only five weeks old now and the breeder won't release him before Christmas (due to that whole 'get a puppy for Christmas' routine). It's a black Labrador… which is kinda creepy because of what I said last chapter (I swear I didn't know what type of dog we were getting until today). A sign? (I hope not because I just killed off the black lab puppy in this fic…)

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 16

Jury Duty

"I can't believe she got invited back…" Yuka groaned slightly. Eri and Ayumi nodded silently beside her.

All three girls sat slumped in a little heap on the steps of Kagome's Shrine, watching with baffled expressions as Kagome handed her luggage over to a man in a black suit and dark shades to be stashed away in the back of a long silver stretch limo.

"She must have really gotten on his good side." Ayumi reasoned thoughtfully. "Maybe he fancies her?"

"Hah!" Yuka scoffed loudly. "Inuyasha owns ten estates; two down south, a couple more in Europe, one in Africa and the rest in America. He's had a girlfriend in each continent – he dated Miss World's daughter who was twice as beautiful as her mother. He had a fling with Angelique Spagni! Kagome just can't compete with all that."

Eri stared at her friend. "So… you're saying that maybe he doesn't fancy her?"

Yuka folded her arms with a hooded look. "All I'm saying is that I don't think Kagome has a snowball's chance in hell."

"Then why would he be inviting her back for another week?" Ayumi pointed out blandly.

Yuka didn't say much after that. She just smouldered quietly on her step, apparently cursing the day she'd put Kagome's name down instead of her own.

It wasn't long before Kagome came toddling back up the steps to see her friends with a cheerful smile. "All set and ready to go." She hugged Ayumi who jumped up to embrace her. "I'll be back in a week."

"Don't forget to get his autograph." Eri told her as she hugged Kagome after Ayumi. "No – bring back something better – his underwear – but make that two pairs because I want to flog one on ebay!" 

"Make that four pairs!" Yuka said quickly. "I want a pair as well – and another pair to sell to the rich girl at school."

"Can you bring me back some of his hair?" Ayumi asked.

The girls stared at her blankly.

"Well… you see I'm making this voodoo doll and I need a little bit of someone's hair in order to make him fall in love with me-"

"Enough said." Kagome said with an agreeable nod. "Don't worry, I'll get it for you. How much do you want? The whole lot or maybe just his fringe? Oh – and make sure you stick some of those pins in his butt."

Ayumi saluted with a grin.

Yuka finally got her turn to hug Kagome. "No hard feelings about this, right?" Kagome asked her, knowing that a small grudge still remained.

"They're getting softer." Yuka smiled at her, regardless. "Just make sure you bring back something worth while – or get him to come visit us and then I'll forgive you."

"Deal." Kagome squeezed her arm affectionately before continuing up the steps to where her family were gathered, waiting to say their goodbyes. 

"I can't believe she gets the last two weeks off school term to go bunk with Inuyasha." Yuka groused, causing her two friends to elbow her. "What?!"

"Don't be so jealous." Eri scolded her. "Inuyasha was way out of your league and anyway… haven't you noticed that all the guys seem to insist on talking to you because you're Kagome's best friend. And some of them are nearly as good looking as Inuyasha…"

"True." Yuka nodded thoughtfully, before realising Kagome was coming back their way. "Oh, she's going! Bye Kagome!"

"Bye bye!" Kagome waved back at them as she passed the three girls on her way to the limo waiting in the roadside curb below. She continued waving as she got into the vehicle and even then she wound down the tinted window to wave some more and holler farewells as the limo slid away down the road.

~*~

"I'm leaving now." Kikyo announced as she clicked down the steps from the villa to the pool-side. She approached the sun-bed where Inuyasha lay basking in the afternoon sun and made a point to stand directly in the light, casting a shadow over him to get his attention. It worked, because a sluggish moment later he raised his hand and tipped his shades up.

"What?" he said.

"I said I'm going now. I'll be back by Wednesday at the earliest." She turned to leave.

"Whoa!" Inuyasha bolted upright. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Jury duty." She said simply with a mild shrug. "I got my letter yesterday."

"And you're just going?" he took his sunglasses off to give her an incredulous look.

Kikyo sighed patiently. "It is my civic responsibility and my duty to go."

"No, I won't have it." He said abruptly. "Tell them you're racist, or that… that you hate men and torture hamsters at the weekend, or-"

"I'm going now." Kikyo deadpanned and tried to leave again.

"How do I know you're not going to be agent for someone else?" he pointed out and jabbed an accusing finger at her. "Are you two-timing me behind my back? Agenting someone else?"

"Would you relax?" she rolled her eyes briefly. "I'm going to jury duty and that's the end of it. See you on Wednesday." Also, by Wednesday there was a good chance that he would have calmed down since discovering Kagome's return…

Of course, no one had bothered to tell Inuyasha about this yet, and Kikyo was happy that she wouldn't be there to witness the event… seeing as how Inuyasha liked to do good impressions of active volcanoes when things didn't always go his way. And normally Kikyo, in an effort to keep things moving smoothly and orderly, would have gone out of her way to keep things _Inuyasha's _way.

But this time she was going to have to agree with Miroku. Inuyasha needed a good kick in the backside – and from someone he couldn't fire. And while Kagome obliged to that role… Kikyo would go to court and have a nice relaxing break from her normal day-job. Judging criminals was so much easier on the conscience than catering to a prima donna's needs.

~*~

Kagome was torn, and getting more divided by the minute.

Was Inuyasha worth this much of her time? Did she really have to spend another week with a blockhead _willingly_? But was it right to just walk away and ignore it all?

Kagome resolved herself, after all, that coming back was the right thing to do. If she just walked away she'd never be able to stop thinking about it, and the big question mark that hung over the 1992 incident would hang over her head for the rest of her sane life. So she was determined to weasel the truth out of him this week, even if it would kill the curious cat, she was sure that satisfaction would bring it back.

So pulling up outside the villa wasn't as painful as she had originally thought it would be.

Sango came down the steps to greet her all over again. "Hi, welcome back."

This usually called for a response like 'Oh, it's good to be back!'. Pity, but that wasn't quite how Kagome felt. "Does he know that I'm here yet?" she said instead as she helped herself out of the limo.

"Um… he doesn't even know that you're _supposed _to be here." Sango replied with a nervous laugh. "But remember – if anyone asks – he invited you back because we all enjoyed your company so much."

"I see…" Kagome smiled wryly. "So you didn't enjoy my-"

"Of course we did." Sango interrupted as she gestured to the men to take Kagome's bags up to her designated room. "Inuyasha just might need a little more convincing of that – and take them quietly so his highness won't here you!"

"So where is he?" Kagome asked as she watched her luggage disappear with the men into the villa.

"Probably in the game room. First floor, towards the west wing, you can't miss it." Sango pointed towards the west end of the villa. "You should go see him. Give him a heart attack for me, ok?"

Kagome grinned and hefted her shoulder bag slightly before waving a short goodbye to Sango and heading inside to go face the music. Undoubtedly the giant big-head wouldn't be all that pleased to see her, but maybe his surprise at seeing her would spare her…?

Or maybe he would go and declare his undying love for leg warmers for all the likeliness of her being spared his temper.

Kagome already knew where the games room was, so she had no trouble finding it. She'd already used it a few times to practise her pool… which had never been very good and it wasn't about to improve. But she knew that the door was usually open to this particular room, and when she found it shut, she knew that it was in use.

Without an ounce of hesitation, she drew her hand up and wrapped lightly on the solid wooden panel with her knuckles. She wasn't scared of Inuyasha, not like most of the people in the villa, and she wasn't going to act like a timid mouse for his satisfaction. She was going to say 'hi, I'm staying for the next week' and he would have to deal with it like an adult.

"Come in." Unmistakably Inuyasha.

Kagome pushed the door open and looked around for the guy in question. She spotted him at the end of the room, leaning against a pool table with his back to her. The cue was braced in the crook of his arm and he was fiddling with something on his arm, something that had a plastic wrapper…

"Leave it on the table, Eria." He said absently.

His afternoon tea, perhaps? Not this time. Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly in curiosity as she approached his end of the room, trying to see around him to what he was doing. Eventually she just came right out and said it. "What are you doing?"

His ears snapped towards her the instant she'd started the question, and he spun around suddenly to face her with an expression close to horror. Both his arms held behind his back. "You!"

Kagome ignored his accusatory tone. She tried to peer around him instead. "What are you got on your arm-?"

"Nothing!" Obviously his shock had overridden his acting skills. He had guilty written all over his face.

__

Oh dear, she thought. She hadn't even left him alone for three days and he was already back on track with his usual habits. "Are you doing drugs?" she folded her arms and gave him a stony glare.

His grip on the cue behind his back shifted and he narrowed one eye. "Define what you mean by 'drugs'…"

Kagome scowled as she ran her gaze towards the visible parts of his arms. He'd pushed the sleeve up of his left arm all the way to the elbow and clenched something in his right fist. She sighed loudly. "Why do you do this to yourself?"

"It's not what you… hey…" He began to lose that guilty look as he began to realise something important. "You're not supposed to be here."

"And you're not supposed to be doing drugs." She countered.

"This is different – this is legal!"

"So is suicide, but you don't see _me _doing those kind of things." Kagome pointed out heatedly.

Inuyasha seemed to debate something, glaring hard at her as the cogs in his head almost visibly turned. Kagome waited for the self-righteous speech that he was bound to make in some sort of effort to defend himself.

To her surprise, he stuck his arms out towards her and upturned his right hand, showing her what he held.

Kagome blinked and switched her gaze from his glare to his hand. She analysed the crumpled little packet before pursing her lips, beginning to feel that perhaps she'd been a little hasty. "Ah…" Was all she could manage to say. She felt pretty stupid now…

"Satisfied you little harpy?" he reprimanded her as he rolled his sleeve back down over the nicotine patch on his arm. He dropped the empty packet on the pool table between them. "I hope you didn't come all the way back down here to tell me off. What are you, my human incarnate of conscience?"

Kagome rolled her eyes, clutching her arms tightly across her chest. "Well seeing as how you seem to lack one…" _Does this mean he's quitting…?_

"And what are you doing here anyway?" he frowned at her suspiciously. "I thought I'd got rid of you for good."

"Well…" Kagome bobbed on the balls of her feet. "Kikyo thought it would be good publicity if I stayed another week… you know, because you guys like me so much-"

"I don't like you."

"No one cares." Kagome said flippantly. "But I'm here, and we'll be spending another wonderful week in each other's presence again."

"And by Wednesday I'll be tying another damn rock to my feet…" he grumbled, taking up his cue again and leaning over the table to resume his half-complete game.

Well… that had gone better than expected. Kagome had been waiting for something short of a volcanic eruption. A threat of suicide was pretty tame… "So… we're cool right?"

"I'm always cool," he said simply, closing one eye as he lined the cue up with the cue ball.

"Of course you are…" Kagome said loftily and turned to leave.

She got half way to the door before she couldn't help herself… she turned back to him with a wide smile and started forward again. "Can I just say that I'm really proud of you? For quitting the smokes, I mean. And…" she winced slightly. "You're not doing it because of that stupid comment I made about the ashtray… are you?"

His hand jerked as he made the shot, but even still he managed to get two balls in. He straightened and regarded her with the blankest, most uninspiring expression ever. "This is the tenth time I've tried to quit." He stated simply. "How's that?"

"Well it'll be different this time, because you have me!" Kagome pointed to herself, beaming.

"Oh god don't I know." He gave her a pained, sarcastic look before moving off around the pool table to angle for a new shot.

"So, anytime you begin to feel the cravings creeping up on you and you want to scream with frustration – I'll be here." She told him confidently.

He flicked her an annoyed look. "When I want to scream with frustration you always seem to be here already."

Sarcasm duly noted and respected. "Ok then… I'll just go and unpack my stuff in my room then." She turned and made to leave again when she heard an odd noise behind her. She turned back around suspiciously. "What was that?"

"That was me shuddering in revulsion." 

"Oh." Kagome blinked at him for a moment before turning around, intending to make it out of the room seriously this time. "I'm sure you'll get used to me eventually. I'm in for a _long _stay." She shut the door on her way out, blocking out the string of grumbled curses that followed her.

~*~

"So what excuse are you pulling to get out of here?" The woman next to Kikyo whispered hoarsely to her. She had bad breath and Kikyo was certain that the hair hadn't been washed for at least a month.

Was this what the modern jury, the people who decided your fate, were compromised of these days?

"I'm not using any excuse." Kikyo told her seriously. "It is my civic responsibility and my duty to society to come here and partake in jury duty. As is everyone's here." She gestured to the rest of the people in the waiting room.

"Insanity." The woman nodded with respect. "Good one."

"I am _not _insane." Kikyo replied evenly. "It is just my duty."

~*~

"What is _that _doing back here?" Inuyasha ground out dangerously, jabbing a finger at the security monitor in the little security room that showed a picture of Kagome talking with Sango in the styling salon on the third floor.

Miroku glanced at the pair of girls getting a manicure and shrugged mildly. "_That _would happen to be the monitor that we nearly chucked out last week, but the engineer fixed it so it's back."

"The girl, Miroku! The girl!" Inuyasha repeatedly tapped Kagome's smiley face on the screen. "What is _she _doing here?!"

"Oh…" Miroku shifted uncomfortably. "Well… it's Kikyo's fault." Yep, it was easy to blame the one who wasn't around to defend herself. "She thought it would be a good publicity move if we brought Kagome back to the villa."

"How?!" Inuyasha demanded loudly. "HOW?!"

"Well…" Miroku dearly wanted to slither out of the room, but he'd promised Sango he'd keep his backbone straight. "The public _like _her. The more mature members of the population think that it's good that you're finally interested in a girl younger than yourself – and even if they don't think that, they're touched by the fact that you're picking a girl from humble origins."

Inuyasha simply bristled with rage. "That's not-"

"And," Miroku interrupted. "It's given every teenager hope, thinking that if someone as simple and randomly chosen as Kagome can win your heart then surely they stand a chance for you too? Face it, you're endearing yourself to the public by pairing your image with that of a nobody teenage girl."

Inuyasha spoke through clenched teeth. "But I don't _want _to pair myself with a nobody teenage girl."

"It's only another week Inuyasha." Miroku shrugged lightly. "You'll never have to see her again after that."

"That's what you all said last time!" Inuyasha ran his hands over his face. "God! I was so happy to get rid of her the first time… and then you go behind my back in _invite _her back to give me another week of hell!"

"For the record, Kikyo went behind your back, not me." Miroku quickly informed him. "And then she ran away to jury duty."

"Typical." Inuyasha threw up his hands and turned to storm out of the room, his voice rising in volume. "TYPICAL!"

Miroku pursed his lips and tried not to wince as the door slammed shut in the superstars wake, shuddering in the frame and cracking a bit of the plaster of the wall. On the screen, both Sango and Kagome were looking around… obviously they'd heard the bellow even from their position on the third floor.

With a sigh, Miroku pulled his mobile out of his pocket and tapped in a number.

Time to call Kikyo.

~*~

"So are we all agreed that he's guilty?" the leader asked. He received various nods of agreement from the rest of the jury… from everyone except for a certain stoic agent at the end of the table. The leader looked to her. "Miss Kikyo?"

"Yes?" she replied evenly.

"What is your decision?"

"Uh…" Kikyo tapped her cheek thoughtfully. "I don't know. You'll have to go over the evidence again for me."

There was a collective groan of exasperation around the table. The leader had a muscle beginning to tick in his jaw. "Fine." He ground out and started going over the evidence. Of course, Kikyo knew it all already, she was just playing hard to get… at least until-

Ahah! Her mobile began vibrating in her handbag.

She discreetly extracted it and read the message from her lap.

__

'Inu mad. Sty awy 4 as long as pos.'

Kikyo sighed ever so lightly and put the phone away just in time for the leader to turn back to her. "So does that clarify it for you Miss Kikyo? Which way do you vote? Guilty or not guilty?"

"Innocent." She nodded with great certainty.

Everyone stared at her.

The leader frowned at her. "Please state your reasons for your… vote…"

Kikyo primly straightened and clasped her fingers together. "How can you be so sure he's guilty of killing his own mother? I mean, sure he was the only one home with her that evening when her throat was slit, but what if someone broke into the house and killed her instead? And so what he was covered in her blood from head to toe? And maybe it was just a coincidence that his fingerprints happened to be all over the murder weapon in question. What does all that prove anyway?"

"That he killed his mother?" a small voice piped up from the table.

Kikyo scoffed. "It proves nothing. Hasn't anyone considered the possibility that _maybe _someone _did _break in and killed the mother and took the murder weapon away. The son in the kitchen may have been making a sandwich with the knife and so when he came in, he saw his mother dead and ran to aid her, coating himself and his knife with her blood in the process."

An intense air of silence followed her story.

"At least consider it." Kikyo shrugged and elegantly swept her hair behind her ear.

"Ok… revote." The leader sighed loudly. "All those who vote guilty raise your hands."

Everyone rose their hand, save for Kikyo.

"Fools…" she muttered.

"Looks like we'll be staying at the hotel tonight then." The leader resigned amidst everyone's groan of frustration.

__

Excellent, Kikyo thought, mentally tapping the tips of her fingers together.

~*~

There was at least _one _benefit to staying in the villa for another week, and that was the access she received to the grand piano in the classic room.

At home they had an old, upright piano that sat against the wall. It was inherited from her grandmother, despite the fact that her grandmother had never learnt to play the big instrument. Kagome had remember the day it had arrived when she'd only been about five years old. It was one of the earliest memories she still retained.

Her mother had caught her attempting to play it not long after it had arrived… hence began the new series of piano lessons. But within two weeks the pianist gave up on Kagome, telling her mother that the child was simply too wistful and wouldn't obey the basic elemental rules to playing the piano. Kagome had played whatever she had damn well liked, even if it sounded atrocious.

It had taken years for Kagome to develop a sense of musical taste, and she'd discovered that playing certain notes together had sounded nice and pleasing to the ear… so she used that as a basis for her self-tutoring.

She still had no idea which key was C, and which was A. She had no idea which notes were flat and which were sharp. She couldn't read music and she never tried to attempt reading it. But she knew where every note on the piano was, and how it sounded when she pressed it and when it could be played to fit a pleasant melody. She didn't even have to press a key to know what it sounded like, since she could already hear it in her head. And least of all, she didn't need to read music to be able to play it. She could easily listen to the tune a few times and be able to pick out exactly which keys had been pressed to make that particular chord.

She remembered a film she'd watched a while ago, the film had had a beautiful piano soundtrack with one particular tune that had struck her as soulful to the fullest. But as per usual she'd not made a note of the title of the film and had never come across it since, nor it's piano piece. The day after she'd watched the film she'd forgotten how the tune went.

But she'd spent many a night lying in bed trying to remember it, humming bars in an attempt to recover it…

Until one day at the piano she cracked it. She was sure that it wasn't exactly the same as the tune on the film, but she'd fleshed it out enough from the basic melody to satisfy herself.

It was now one of her favourite pieces to play, because for some reason it sounded different every time she played it. When she was happy, it sounded cheerful and uplifting. When she was sad it sounded bitter. When she wasn't sure how she felt, she wasn't sure how it sounded, and that seemed to make it even more soulful.

It was a tune that she didn't even have to concentrate on, as she sat down on the piano stool in the classic room and gently brushed her fingers across the keys, clearing the dust and checking that the pedals worked ok.

She began playing and smiled slightly, realising the tone of the tune was uplifting, meaning she was in a good mood (not that she needed a piano to tell her that). But even so, just playing and listening to it uplifted her spirits even more, and as a result, her playing became smoother and even more spirited.

A floorboard creaked behind her.

Kagome snatched her hands away from the piano at once and spun on her seat to look towards the door as the last notes she'd played died away slowly as her foot stayed stiffly glued to the pedal beneath her.

There was no one to be seen. Kagome swept the room anxiously, her heart thudding hard in her chest as she prayed that no one had heard.

The door was open…

Kagome _knew _she'd shut that door firmly to stop the sound of her playing from filtering out. She eased off the stool and padded towards the heavy set doors. The gap was just wide enough to fit her body through and she peered around the empty corridor outside looking for the culprit. But the only person she saw was the snoozing guard in his chair. The lights were off and the halls were quiet…everyone else appeared to be in bed.

Maybe the door had just opened by itself and that was what she'd heard?

Kagome dismissed it as just that… but still… she was slightly shaken and so decided to call it a night. There was one thing she disliked more than anything, and that was other people hearing her music? Why? Because, to Kagome, it was like taking off all of her clothes and letting someone scrutinise her body, only while she played the piano it was her soul and her emotions that were under scrutiny.

Thus the reason she only ever played the upright piano when everyone was out of the shrine doing shopping or visiting friends.

__

Probably just the wind, she reassured herself as she found her way back to her guest room and headed for the bed.

As she curled up under the covers she set her mind on more current matters… such as how she was supposed to go about devising the many schemes she would use over the next week to uncover the truth of what happened in 1992…

~*~

He was almost certain that she'd played the same tune as before… but he knew that it hadn't sounded so upbeat the last time he'd heard her play.

He'd been passing on his way to the kitchens, hoping for cook to have left out some food for his midnight snack, when he'd heard her playing again. Unable to stop himself, he'd approached the classic room all over again and had pushed open the door far enough to listen to the melody.

Some of that smouldering temper and bad mood had evaporated as Inuyasha had listened. How could someone _not _feel the vibes of that music? It was like… like… watching a feel-good movie at the end of a bad day. The emotion in that song was contagious and he couldn't help but react and smile a little.

Maybe another week around the brat wouldn't be so bad?

The song had been drawing to a close and he knew that it was probably best to leave… but he'd been careless. Even though he knew exactly which floorboard to step over, for some reason he forgot at that vital moment. He'd stepped on it.

It was a good thing he was a Hanyou, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to slip out in time to avoid being seen. But it had surprised him how suddenly she had stopped playing and spun around. Very self-conscious…

He'd waited behind a corner until she had left the room and gone back to bed before he set off to get his midnight snack. But alas, when she arrived in the kitchen he found that cook had cleaned everything away and padlocked the fridge. Actually… it was probably Miroku who had padlocked the fridge in an effort to keep him away from the booze hidden in there…

He settled for picking an orange out of the fruit bowl on the island counter and headed back to his own room, peeling the fruit as he went, dropping bits of zest up the stairs. His room had been moved again of course. It was now on the second floor, only a few doors away from Kagome's room, but he held suspicion that it wouldn't be long before he was forced to move out of that room and closer to the _guest_. He'd noticed that Sango had been edging him closer to her over the last week… he wondered why.

Inuyasha kicked the door shut behind him with his foot as he entered the new room and popped the last few slices of orange into his mouth as he headed over to the balcony to sit on the rail outside for some fresh air.

Now was a good time for a cigarette, and instinctively his hand reached for his pocket, ready to draw one out of the packet.

Oh wait… he's quit again, hadn't he?

A tingle of need ran through him, but he quashed it the moment he felt it. There was no point getting needy – he had to be strong! But… maybe he needed a little nicotine top up.

Inuyasha glanced down at the patches that now covered the length of his left upper arm with a frown. Hmm… definitely needed to send Miroku out to buy some more tomorrow. But for now, he had to somehow make it through the night with his depleting patches.

"Better make the most of it," he muttered aloud as he drew his arm up and began licking earnestly at the patches.

A movement to his right caused him to pause in his actions and he turned his head slightly to look across the next few balconies to see none other than Kagome. She was staring rather openly at him, arms crossed over her chest and moonlight highlighting her hair and face in the darkness.

He waved to her with his updrawn arm. "Yo!" he called.

Kagome in turn cupped her hands around her mouth to call back. "Remember - I'll be right here for you!"

"Leave me alone!" he hollered and withdrew back into his room sharply, snapping the balcony door shut after him. "Bleeding… witch…" he grumbled as he made his way back to his bed to settle down for the night.

He didn't drift off as soon as he normally did… mostly because his mind was still stuck on that tune.

He was trying to remember how it went… but once again, it eluded him.

AN: A slightly longer chapter this time ^_^ That makes up for the shortness of the last one (not that anyone was too bothered).


	17. Driving Lessons

****

Author's Notes: Christmas is approaching… which means I'll have to start saving money for presents. It was better when you were a kid and you didn't have to buy anything because your parents did it all for you… ahh… those where the days (says the old woman)…

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 17

Driving Lessons (the stars have gotta learn somewhere, right?)

"Now before we start, I'd like you to read to me the license plate of that car over there." The driving instructor pointed trough the wind shield along the fairly empty road ahead of them. It was the road that ran alongside the beach at the top of the cliffs with only a few cars parked on the curb seeing as how it was Tuesday of a working week when everyone was at work and school instead of on the beach.

The instructor reckoned that it was a good empty stretch of road to practise on. Kagome thought that maybe the cliffs only a few metres to their right contributed a lot to her disagreement of his reckoning. 

"Shouldn't we be a little further inland?" she worried from the back seat.

"Pipe down back there." Inuyasha told her cheerfully, flexing his hands on the steering wheel. "If you're so nervous, why did you even bother coming along?"

"Because Sango told me this was the ride to breakfast – that's why!" Kagome glanced between him and the instructor. "I thought you were the chauffeur – you're all trying to trick me!"

Inuyasha turned to her impatiently. "No one forced you to get in the car! I told you not to."

"But I was hungry!" She shot back, rubbing her growling stomach. "Can we go get a sandwich after this?"

For some reason that made Inuyasha break into a big grin. "Sure! I'll drive us to blossoms."

"You do realise that you haven't got a license yet…?" Kagome told him pointedly.

The driving instructor coughed loudly, effectively ending the discussion. He drummed his fingers against his metal clipboard in a very loud manner. "The license plate of the car?"

"The blue one?" Inuyasha peered through the window.

The instructor chuckled. "No, not the blue one, that's nearly half a mile away. I'm not that much of a tyrant. Just the red one over there."

__

Don't make it too easy for him… Kagome thought with a roll of her eyes.

"Twenty-eight, seventy-one." Inuyasha read off. "Made in Oota, Tokyo, Yashitori incorporated-"

"That's enough thank you." The instructor interrupted. "Nothing wrong with your eyes. Now, if you will, ease off the hand-brake and then gently ease off the clutch as you press the accelerator and feel the car move-"

Inuyasha promptly smacked the hand-brake down and simultaneously flattened both pedals to the floor. Kagome jerked in her seat as the car lurched and the tyres spun, but went no where. The gear box was making some very interesting noises while Inuyasha tugged on the gear stick, trying to find the reason why the car wasn't moving. "Why isn't it-?"

"Not the accelerator and the brake – the clutch the clutch!" The instructor all but screamed as the stench of burning rubber started overwhelming the convertible.

"Well which is which?" Inuyasha peered down at his feet.

"The right one, take your foot off it!"

"Oh right, like this?" Inuyasha lifted his foot experimentally…

The car shot forward like a bat out of hell, careening down the road at a top speed of sixty and climbing. Kagome clung to her seat, the wind ripping through her hair, very certain now that she didn't like this experience at all.

"Stop!" the instructor yelled.

"What?!" Inuyasha shouted back.

"I said stop!"

Kagome noticed how Inuyasha looked around the space around him, as if looking for that big red button labelled 'Stop'. His hand inched towards the hand-brake and she was just about to scream at him not to touch it when he finally found the foot brake by sheer luck.

The car screeched to a halt, jolting everyone forward so suddenly that Kagome would have flown out of the vehicle had she not been belted up.

"That was fun!" Inuyasha said enthusiastically, looking over his shoulder at the distance they'd travelled. "Let's try that again."

"Yes," the instructor was mopping his brow with a handkerchief. "But let's take it easy this time. Ease off the brake _gently _as you press down on the accelerator and start to feel it moving forward."

Inuyasha did as he was told… and so they began kangarooing it down the road, lurching forward one metre at a time. He didn't look happy. "This isn't good," he slammed down the accelerator all over again, and shot off again as if the paparazzi were behind him.

"Slow down!" Kagome yelled, seeing as how the instructor seemed to have lost the ability to talk.

"What?!" he yelled back.

Kagome couldn't stand it anymore. She reached forward and pulled the hand-brake, forcing the car into a sudden stop. Once more they all jolted in their seats as the car scraped to a halt on the road. Inuyasha spun on her. "What was that for?"

"For nearly sending us over the cliff!" She gasped, running a hand over her wind-frazzled hair. "I don't think I want breakfast anymore…"

The mere mention of food was enough to send the poor instructor scrambling. The distraught man stumbled out of the open topped car and over to the edge of the road and promptly began throwing up.

"Well done." Kagome congratulated Inuyasha dryly. "You made the instructor honk-up."

"It wasn't that bad!" Inuyasha called to him. "Man – you have no stomach for thrills!"

Kagome put her head in her hands. "I wish I was back home… I want to see my family alive at least one more time…"

"Oh relax." Inuyasha said as he fiddled with the gear stick. "I'm getting the hang of this!"

"You're not getting the hang of anything. A two year old has more street sense than you!" she gestured to the pedals at his feet. "Even I know that you clutch before you brake."

"Clutch what?" Inuyasha frowned, looking around for what she was talking about. "Oh right! The clutch. That doesn't seem very safe to me. I mean, if you want to stop in a hurry surely it's better to press the brake straight away instead of the clutch and _then _the brake. For safety reasons it's probably better pressing the clutch before you accelerate."

Kagome glared at the back of his head. As if he had any idea what he was talking about… "For safety reasons, you should never be allowed to drive. You're a menace to society."

Inuyasha simply ignored her. He glanced over to the verge of the road where the instructor was still reliving his breakfast before turning back to Kagome and silently gesturing her to sit in the passenger seat beside him.

"What?" she frowned, knowing that if she complied she would only have to get into the back seat again when the instructor returned.

Inuyasha held a finger to his lips and gestured more emphatically for her to get up front with him. After a moment of hesitation she did as he wanted and slid between the two front seats and sat down beside him. She frowned further as she saw Inuyasha slip the gear stick out of the park position and push the hand brake down. "What are you doing?"

"Driving."

"What?!"

The car didn't shoot off with a lurch this time, but instead started off with a steady glide, as if steered by an experienced driver. Inuyasha even indicated as he pulled away from the curb. "Wave to the nice man, kid."

Kagome glanced back at the shrinking figure of the driving instructor who was futilely running after them, waving his fist and probably yelling 'Come back here!', not that Kagome heard much over the rushing wind around her ears. She slowly turned back to Inuyasha. "I really don't think you should have done that…"

"Where's your sense of adventure?" he teased, reaching out with one hand to tune the radio. "Damn… Kikyo's re-tuned the stupid thing…"

With not much else to do other than pull her seat belt on, Kagome sat tensely in the passenger seat, realising something very important. This guy was an experienced driver. "Why were you messing with the instructor like that? Don't you want to pass your test?"

"I'm not taking my test for another six months." He told her, finally finding the radio station he liked. "I can afford to have a little fun till then, right? And maybe change instructors?" he cranked up the volume.

Kagome stuck her fingers pointedly in her ears to block out the sound of the deep bass music. She'd figured him as the type to listen to heavy rock… not her kind of thing, personally. She quickly grew fed-up with the racket and turned the volume down low with a flick of the dial on the radio.

Inuyasha looked at her oddly then put his own hand out and twisted it back the opposite way, turning the music on full blast. Kagome glared at him irritably and turned it down again. Inuyasha gave her a sharp look and turned it straight back up and when Kagome moved to do the opposite he slapped her hand away.

"Your taste in music sucks!" she told him loudly to be heard over the 'music'.

"Would you prefer something more classy then?" he shot back with a sneer. "Piano perhaps?"

Meaning? Kagome narrowed her eyes slightly, wondering if he knew… if he meant something behind that comment, but he wasn't following it up with any knowing smug expressions so maybe she was safe. She watched him finally punch the power button and turn the radio off altogether. "I hate that song anyway…" he said by way of excuse.

Kagome glanced back over her shoulder and realised they'd gone further out from the villa than she'd realised. Because they were on the coast, she could easily see the villa as a small little dot in the distance on a section of the land that protruded out towards the sea.

"How long have you lived there anyway?" Kagome asked as she turned back to face Inuyasha. "In the villa."

He took a moment to answer with a shrug. "For as long as I can remember." He answered with the bored look that he always seemed to accumulate when he was forced to talk about himself. "Lived in one of the American estates until I was three."

"You did?" Kagome blinked in surprise. "Your parents took you to live there?"

"I was born there." He veered around another corner fast enough to turn Kagome pale. "Lived there for three years with my mother and then came here to reunite with my dad."

"Oh…" Kagome said as she took it in, then repeated the soft sound as her stomach did another flip flop when they screeched around a sharp bend in the road. "I think I'm gonna throw-up…"

"Not in this car you're not!" Inuyasha suddenly barked at her, as if raising his voice would stop her queasiness. "This is my favourite car!"

"You should know, you've been driving it for how many years?!" she shot back, getting irritated again. "And there you were telling the police that you've never driven a car in your life!"

"I didn't drive _that _one!" he snapped. "So what I told a little white lie to the detectives? It's not like it makes me any less innocent of attempted murder!"

Kagome tried closing her eyes, willing her stomach to calm down. "Kouga came out of hospital today." She remembered Miroku telling her that morning.

"I know." Inuyasha clenched his hands tighter around the wheel, making the leather covering squeak slightly.

Kagome spared him a brief glance. "You're upset that he's alive aren't you." It was more of a statement than a pondering question.

"I'm _upset _that I could have fought him again… but instead I leap-frog over his back straight into the finals. It's bad enough that everyone thinks I get everything easy because I'm rich – it's worse when I actually _do _get it easy because of someone else's misfortune!" he groused.

Kagome remained silent, half wondering how strongly he felt about that, and half glad that they were having to slow down now that they were joining other traffic as they drew closer to the centre of the district. Shops and houses began appearing around them and she soon lost sight of the sea. As her stomach settled she glanced over at him. "It bothers you that you're that much closer to getting the international championship?" she said with a mild shrug. "Would you prefer you fight Kouga again and risk losing to him?"

"In all fairness, sure." He spotted something down the street and suddenly changed the subject. "You want breakfast, right?"

"Mm." Kagome hummed noncommittally. She _had _been hungry. Then she'd been taken for a joy ride… but maybe it was better to eat something. "Yeah, just a flapjack or something."

Once again he demonstrated his ability to indicate properly before turning left off the road into a car park. They had to browse a while before they eventually found a space, and even then it was a tight one. Kagome was amazed that Inuyasha managed to park at all.

"What happens if someone pulls you over?" she asked as they got out of the car. "You don't have a license do you?" He was barely old enough to get the lessons…

"In which case me name is Miroku." He locked the car.

"But won't they recognise you as Inuyasha?" she pointed out.

"In which case… I'm Miroku… distant relative of Inuyasha, not nearly as famous or rich, but just as handsome."

"Just as big in the head." Kagome said sweetly and started to follow him out of the car park. "Where are we going?"

"There's a café around the corner. We can get something to eat there."

Why did Kagome have the feeling that she was going to be battling her way through a ton of fangirls in order to get her flapjack? She sighed dejectedly but followed him anyway, around the corner and off towards the corner café – a rendition (or a rip-off) of Starbucks.

The moment they walked in, someone dropped their glass on the floor. The shatter marked the beginning of a very long, eerie silence. Kagome looked around hesitantly, realising everyone in the café had now stopped what they were doing in order to stare at Inuyasha.

Inuyasha for his part, looked very confused at the attention. "What are you all gaping at?"

The woman at the till was the first one to make any move to indicate she'd heard. She silently pointed back at a calendar behind the counter, pinned high on the wall. It was one of those teenage calendars for the girls with all the hottest band boys and celebrities… and guess who's bod was up for June?

Inuyasha took one look at his picture before breaking out into a laugh and a grin. "Oh this again, this is the second time this week isn't it Sango?" he nudged Kagome. "I look nothing like him, I mean, talk about plastic surgery… how much do you want to bet that isn't his real nose?"

It took a moment, but after several seconds people began taking his word for it and went back to their conversations, only glancing in his direction occasionally with scrutiny. The waitress began clearing up the smashed glass and Inuyasha went over to the counter to order. Kagome stood in a daze for a moment, still noticing the odd glance she was receiving, so she quickly hurried after Inuyasha.

"Two mochas and a flapjack." He told the woman behind the till who was still staring at him strangely, probably trying to work out if he really was Inuyasha or not.

Kagome went to pick out a table in a little booth by the window, to avoid the obvious not-so-subtle stares of the people in the café while Inuyasha picked up the drinks and the snack. As soon as he sat down opposite her and pushed her drink in front of her, he fixed Kagome with a rather penetrating kind of stare.

Great, now he was at it as well as the café people…

"What?" she said, staring back at him.

"Why did you come back?" he asked in a 'why did you kill the kitten' kind of way. "I mean, you were so happy to be leaving, weren't you? Why did you come back, or are you that intent to make my life miserable?"

"Am I making you miserable?" She asked plainly.

"Sweet agony." 

Kagome sipped her coffee, keeping her eyes steered to the stains on the table between them. "I came back because they made me an offer to come back. That's all." But he didn't seem to buy it. She could just feel the holes he burned into the top of her head with his glare…

"Are you just poking your nose in where it doesn't belong… Kagome?"

She spluttered into mocha, getting a good deal amount of cream on her nose. She inched up her gaze to meet his, pretty much in shock that he'd used her name but also edgy that he was about to discover her slightly ulterior motives.

"You've got cream on your nose, sweetie." Inuyasha reached forward and smudged it off with his thumb. He sucked on the creamy digit thoughtfully. "Now let me see… why else would a girl like you - a nosy, slightly pushy, won't-get-a-clue kind of girl – come back and endure another week of hell with me, unless you thought you were getting something worth while out of it?"

Kagome turned her gaze back down to the table and traced her finger along the circular pattern of a coffee stain.

She jumped when Inuyasha's hand slammed down right in front of her nose, making her mocha rattle precariously.

"You are _not _butting into my affairs, _little _girl." He hissed in such a dangerous way she began re-evaluating her decision to spend another week with him. "What's done is done, what happened can't be changed and I'd really appreciate it if you stopped trying to bring it up."

"Bring what up?" she asked deliberately.

He glared at her so hard that she found it difficult to maintain eye contact. "None of my business is any of _your _business. There is a line between us, and you're not going to cross it. I won't butt into your past, and you won't butt into mine."

Kagome scoffed. "You're only saying that because you don't think I have a dark past too."

"Well you don't. You're just a school girl." He said in a derogatory manner.

Kagome graced him with a slightly offended look. "Oh, so my emotional capacity isn't as complex as yours just because I'm not as rich or famous? Oh please. My Dad died two years after my little brother was born."

He stared at her. "So? That's nothing compared to-"

"Shut up." Kagome snapped so suddenly he actually fell silent. "This is my little year of hell from my own life. Eight years ago my father died in an earthquake when a bridge collapsed. My mother was with him, and she was pregnant with my little sister… who never got born because she had a miscarriage. And do you know why she had a miscarriage? Because she was stuck in a car with her dead husband for over six hours."

She saw him swallow hard at her rather blatant concession.

"The only thing that stopped her from completely losing it was when Grandpa went to her in hospital and told her to let it all out, to tell him everything and leave nothing hidden. Apparently it was difficult to talk about at first, but then she finally told Grandpa everything that happened… and she's been better off for it ever since. She has no trouble recalling what happened now… it makes her sad… but it doesn't make her go insane like _some _people." She gave him a pointed look.

Inuyasha stared at her with an unreadable expression. "Don't you miss him?"

Kagome blinked before shaking her head slowly. "I don't really remember him… just a hand full of memories."

Inuyasha turned his head away. "People grieve in different ways."

"And you're doing it the wrong way." She said bluntly earning another glare. "If you just talked to someone about it then you wouldn't have a problem. That's your problem – you don't talk to anyone. You hold it in and let it eat you while telling yourself that you're just putting it behind you and learning to forget. Well forgetting about it is ok, but you've got to deal with it first-"

"You don't know me." He said suddenly, in a rather defensive way. "Don't act like you know what's best. Don't give me all your little anecdotes in an attempt to get close to me, you little-."

"I'm not trying to make you tell me what happened." Kagome told him sincerely. "I only want you to tell _someone_… and if I happened to find out what happened in 1992 in the process then that would be… nice… but not necessary…"

He rapped his claws against the table, obviously having something more in mind to say to her. But he seemed to be biting down on it… until eventually he smiled and leaned in towards her, folding his arms on the table. "Or maybe… you just returned because you just can't stay away?" he gave her a saucy little wink.

Kagome's face hardened. Of all times to slam the detached routine on her. "You're such a pig." She said vehemently and stood roughly, knocking the table hard enough to spill his coffee and send it cascading over his lap. He gasped at the heat but Kagome didn't stay to watch the whole show, since she was far too busy storming out the door.

It wasn't like she had anywhere to go. She didn't recognised the district and so she couldn't find her way back to anywhere familiar from the café… so she just headed back to the car and decided to wait there while her temper cooled.

She sat smouldering in the passenger seat, arms crossed and a deep frown furrowing her forehead. He was such an ass… she was only trying to help! Why did he have to be so thick-headed to not see the obvious - that it was tearing him apart by trying to keep his secrets to himself! And then just to prove to everyone that he was a stupendous moron he pushed away his irritation at her in favour of making a superficial, meaningless pass. It proved her point… and he probably didn't even realise…

The drivers door opened and Inuyasha slung himself back behind the wheel. He shut the door again and they sat in silence, both waiting for the other to say something. Kagome faintly noticed that he smelled strongly of coffee now… and that he wasn't giving her the wink. Maybe he was being serious now?

He looked at her. "Wanna go see a movie?"

Or maybe he would just avoid the topic altogether.

Kagome shrank against the door wearily. "Sure. What's on?"

~*~

It was growing dark by the time they got out of the cinema. It had been a long, long film, with lots of long, long subtitles. Her eyes felt tired and heavy now, even though it was only seven o'clock. Inuyasha on the other hand had acquired a pair of shades and a hat that successfully managed to hide his ears.

He glanced at his watch as he watched as they made their way back to the car. "Well that was a spectacular waste of four hours of my life. Remind me never to do that again." He looked at her. "On the other hand, we could head off to a party that started an hour ago."

"Why do I have the feeling that you're running away from the villa?" Kagome commented. Her feet were sore from being on them the whole day. She wasn't used to staying out so long with only snack food to sustain her.

Inuyasha seemed to live like this every day.

"I'm not running away. Just having fun while the cat's at jury duty."

"Ah…" Kagome acknowledged as she slipped into the passenger seat.

"So do you wanna go?" he offered again.

Kagome made a vague groan. "I'm not much of a party animal…"

"Oh come on, you'll enjoy yourself when you get into it." He promised.

Kagome still wasn't convinced. Frankly she just wanted to go back to her room, put her feet up and maybe a few cucumber slices on her eyes to cool down and then catch forty winks. But it was obvious that Inuyasha would only pout and sulk if she demanded to be taken home now. Maybe she could accompany him on this last one… and then maybe sit in the car while he partied and catch that beauty sleep.

But it was clear that Inuyasha had no intention of leaving her in the car when they arrived at the party. He opened up her door and waited expectantly for her to get out. But Kagome took one look at the vibrating house, the loud music, the loud chatter of voices that could be heard even from outside… and decided to stay put. "Do I have to?" she whined. "I'm tired… I just want to put my feet up somewhere."

"Don't be so boring, come on." He beckoned her out of the car.

Now Kagome took exception to that. She was _not, _if anything, boring. And just to prove it… she would go party. "Fine. But only for a little while." She warned as she grudgingly stood out of the car and followed him up the driveway of the house.

__

I don't believe he actually dragged me into this, she thought wearily as the headed up the steps to the front door. To her mild surprise he didn't even bother knocking (not that anyone would have heard over the loud music pumping in there), instead Inuyasha simply opened the door and dragged her inside.

A girl stopped dancing to look at the new arrivals. "Hey! It's Inuyasha!"

It could have been a scene straight out of a Charlie's Angels movie as everyone in sight suddenly stopped what they were doing and turned towards the door. "Hello Inuyasha!"

"Oh my god…" Kagome muttered with a roll of her eyes. Obviously Inuyasha was some sort of local around here…

The girl who had originally spotted him trotted over and wrapped her arms around Inuyasha's neck. Kagome stared in surprise at her forwardness, but was less surprised at how Inuyasha welcomed her embrace. When she kissed him he didn't seen too opposed to that idea either.

Kagome slowly folded her arms as the kiss continued and the party played on. This was ridiculous… no sooner than five seconds after walking through the door, and he was literally sucking face with the first girl he saw. Talk about rude…

With a loud cough she cleared her throat. "A-_hem_!"

He finally seemed to remember she was there. He pulled apart from the other girl and twisted to glance back at her briefly before addressing the girl in his arms. "Seki, you look after Kagome. I'm going to go see Tanaka."

"Kay." The girl called Seki let him go and Kagome watched him disappear through the crowd of people milling around the hallway, heading for the back door. She would have watched him all the way had not a very drunk Seki slung her arms around Kagome's shoulders and kissed her on the lips.

All she could do was stand there in dumb, rigid shock. But for some reason it reassured her. This girl was just loose, not Inuyasha's girlfriend…

With an exaggerated kissing sound Seki pulled back, only to envelope Kagome in a tight hug. "Welcome to the party!" She piped.

Kagome couldn't even muster an uncertain smile. She was just too confused. "Thanks…" 

A guy nearby was nodding in appreciation. "Dude… that was hot!"

~*~

"Do you think we should call the police?" Sango said as she speedily flicked through the channels on the Tv. She wasn't about to say it, but she was looking for some sort of news bulletin on a disaster involving two missing people.

"The police won't do anything unless they've been missing for twenty-four hours." Miroku said, calmly spinning his chair in circles… well, it was actually Kikyo's chair since they'd decided to squat in her office while she was away.

"Twelve hours down, twelve more to go." Sango said dryly. "I reckon he's done away with her."

"Was she that annoying?" Miroku stopped turning in order to make his head stop spinning.

"I think she's lovely." Sango shrugged. "But Inuyasha is Inuyasha… he doesn't like cute and lovely things."

They lapsed into another long period of silence.

"Where do you think they are right now?" Sango suddenly asked anxiously, finally giving up on the Tv and turned to wringing her hands instead.

"Well if they're not lying in a ditch in a car wreck then…" Miroku trailed off as he pondered. "… then I haven't got a clue."

Sango sighed loudly. "I shouldn't be surprised that he's gone and disappeared on us again. But with _Kagome?_ I'm not sure I can trust him with her safety…"

~*~

"How come you've been keeping your distance this past week? The last time we saw you was Monday night." Tanaka smirked as he took a swig of his beer straight from the bottle. "You looked more human then."

"It's been an enterprising week." Inuyasha replied with a shrug. "Not had the time."

"It's alright I forgive you, I expect you're busy up there in your cushy little mansion." Tanaka cocked his head. "After all, what's all this I've been hearing about you keeping a girl all to yourself?"

"Kagome Higurashi."

"Yeah. That's her."

Kikyo rolled his eyes as he drank from his own beer. "Kikyo's idea. Nothing but a total pain in the ass all week – a complete ball and chain. I tried to break away today but she followed me."

"Is she here?"

Inuyasha jerked a thumb towards the house.

"Is she cute."

Inuyasha stared at him before shaking his head slowly. "No way, Tanaka. Even she is out of your league."

"Oh hey!" Tanaka suddenly perked up before turning and gesturing to one of the other men in the back yard. "Kyo – get over here." He turned back to Inuyasha. "Want a little top up for the next week? Kyo's got a five gram bag of smack if you want."

Kyo arrived beside them. "What?"

Tanaka nodded to Inuyasha. "Show him what you got."

A small transparent bag was produced out of Kyo's coat pocket. Inuyasha took it slowly and raised an eyebrow. "Not very pure." He noted the brown colour.

"I think my dealer put nutmeg in it…" Kyo said absently as if he wasn't sure.

Inuyasha looked at him. "How much?"

Kyo looked him up and down. "Twenty thousand yen."

Inuyasha scoffed. "That's a bit steep."

"You can afford it!"

Inuyasha shook his head and passed the bag back. "I can't… I've got a match tomorrow and a whole bunch of tests to take."

"You weren't saying that last time." Tanaka tipped his head back to down another mouthful of his beer.

"Last time I was plastered, I didn't know what I was saying."

"Speaking of plastered…" Tanaka looked pointedly towards the house. Inuyasha followed his gaze curiously… and then froze.

The distant chant of 'Strip! Strip! Strip!' had just been background noise that he'd been overlooking and ignoring. Now he realised what exactly they were chanting and who they were chanting it to. 

Kagome. 

He saw it all through the living room window.

"Shit!" Inuyasha hissed and shoved his beer into Tanaka's hands as he pushed his way through the thick crowd to get to the back door again to get inside the house. Most people obligingly moved out of his way, he _was _Inuyasha of course, but most people were too drunk or high to notice – to those people it was either move or get tossed aside.

"Kagome!" he yelled when he reached the living room doorway.

She spun daintily on the table that she was stood on and sent a very lopsided but very wide grin his way. "Inuyasha!" She waved, her shirt hanging off on the one arm – her sweater long gone. "Hello!"

Then she spun back around and continued dancing to the rather raunchy tune while people clapped in time to the music around her table. The crowd was mostly comprised of men, but there were also quite a few girls cheering her on.

She was completely drunk…

"Off! Off! Off!" was the main chorus of cheers around the living room. 

One young man reached out to enclose a hand around her bare ankle, but with a giggle and a quick flick of her foot she unlatched him and reached down to begin unbuckling the belt of her skirt.

Inuyasha had seen way too much at that point. She was already down to her bra, any further and she'd probably try and sue him when she was sober again. "Damn it!" she grumbled as he shoved his way through the dense crowd towards the table in the middle of the room.

"Kagome!" he yelled when he reached her. "We're going home!"

"But I'm having fun!" she whined, but still struggling to get the double latch off her designer skirt. "We can't leave yet!"

"Yes we can, come on!" he held up his hand to her but she ignored him.

"Ahah!" she crowed as she finally managed to defeat her belt. The cheers were deafening as the skirt slid down to her ankles, she stepped out of them and kicked them away into the eager hands of the boys.

Inuyasha clenched his jaw, and with no further ado snatched her off the table and back down to ground level.

"No way – Inuyasha leave the girl to us for once!" one of the men shouted as he lifted Kagome over his shoulder and forcefully pushed his way through the house to the front door. 

Kagome giggled and hiccuped every step of the way. She lifted her head as Inuyasha opened the door. "Bye bye everyone! I'll miss you all! Ooh – it's cold out here!"

Inuyasha slammed the door hard in his wake and stomped back towards the convertible they'd arrived in. "You are unbelievable…" he grouched as he reached into his pocket, trying to find his keys yet still refused to set Kagome down on the ground.

"OH MY GOD!!" Kagome suddenly screeched, making him jerk.

"What?" he demanded quickly, concerned.

"Eri was right! Your ass is fantastic!"

AN: Now you have to wonder how everyone's going to react when Inuyasha turns up with Kagome in nothing but her undies. Tune in next time to find out ^_^


	18. The Morning After

****

Author's Notes: It's getting ridiculous people…

If any more people email me or review with flames or generally rude, pushy orders to update faster, I will block them from reviewing all together. Also, flaming other reviewers just because they hold different opinions is uncalled for and you will only have your review deleted and your penname blocked if I see it happening again. My tolerance is dwindling dangerously low for people who persist with obnoxious emails and generally clutter my mail box with demands for faster updates on Dead Famous despite the fact that this is the fastest I am able to work. 

This is just a mild little taster of what I am getting in my inbox every morning:

__

Subject: Warning: NEED FASTER UPDATES!!!!

How cum ure not updating?!!! Its bin ages alredy!!! If u dont update then ill b forced 2 do somethin drastic like hunt u down and steel the chapters from ur comp. I bet thats wat ur really doing. I bet uve already finished the story and are just posting a chapter at a time just so u can get more reviews! Ur so annoying, i hate it when authors do that. 

And what about ur other stories? How cum ur not updating them either?!! I bet ur doing the same thing. Ur probably just stopping so that more people will review. Authors like u get bigheaded and start thinking that ur better than everyone else just because u get more reviews, but that's stupid.

So like i said, update. you're only pissing off a load of people if u don't. hurry up and post the rest of the story alredy!!!!! 

PISSED OFF READER #262

Be warned that I do get a lot of nastier flames with more liberal use of the F word involved. I don't know if its just one person using multiple addresses of just several people who are banding together.

I don't think these rude people understand that by sending flames via email, they are not encouraging me to write faster. In fact I admit that I am a fairly petty person (my favourite fault) and will feel inclined to stop writing all together just to spite them. The only reason I _do _keep writing is because I know that it wouldn't be fair to the people who genuinely enjoy the story and appreciate it the way it is. 

(please note that I do know that the majority of you guys out there are wonderful, patient people with valid opinions who know how hard it is to write a fanfic to the best of their ability in a short space of time. I really have nothing against reviewers who gently urge me to update, I only get annoyed when they start getting rude. I'm _not _short-changing anyone, as I've been accused of, seeing as how I haven't finished the story and am not filtering the readers one chapter at a time to grab more reviews. I post a chapter as soon as I'm finished with it (hence the fact that I miss a few typos) and then spend the next few days after writing the next chapter.)

But if this kind of abuse continues then I might just give up on Rosefire and write under a different name and email address. This cannot continue, I'm only human people.

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 18

The Morning After

"What the hell happened back there?!" Inuyasha demanded as they flew back along the empty coastal road, heading back toward the villa. "What possessed you to even pick up the drink in the first place? – I didn't think you were that type of girl!"

"Of course I'm not that type of girl!" she protested hotly, shifting restlessly in the passenger seat. "How can I be? I'm a man…" she looked down at her cleavage. "Oh wait, that was just in my dream last night… Never mind!"

"Did someone spike your drink?" he persisted.

"I don't drink spiky things." She pulled a face. "Pricks your tongue-"

"For crying out loud…" Inuyasha mumbled under his breath, praying for some sort of miracle. "Ok… but when we get back; don't tell anyone that you're drunk."

"'Kay!" she smiled cheerfully and began humming. He glanced at her, realising that the tune was familiar… then he realised, it was her piano song. With a slight shake of his head he went back to concentrating on driving. "Sango's going to kill me… Kikyo will torture me first… hell – you're going to kill me!"

Kagome looked shocked… in a sleepy sort of way. "Kill you? But I _like _you!"

Must have been the drink talking…

"I really, _really _like you." She shifted in her seat so she was kneeling facing him. Inuyasha tried to ignore the way she was staring at him like food. "I like you a lot."

"Right…" he said slowly. "And how much did you drink?"

She didn't appear to be listening. "Can I show you how much I like you?" she asked in a stage-whisper.

He darted an uncertain glance at her. "I'm not sure you should show me anything… while I'm driving." He said uneasily, focusing on the winding curves of the coastal road. He could see the villa coming into view in the distance, lit up like a lighthouse.

But then all he could see was Kagome was she sneakily slid across the seats and onto his lap. He stared at her in complete dumb-founded shock. What the hell was she doing? "Kagome – I can't see the road!" he cried.

"Well then keep driving!" She answered as if it were obvious. She leaned closer, bracing her hands on his chest and eyeing him in a very forward manner.

"What are you doing?" It was hard keeping his eyes on the road when there was a gorgeous half-naked girl sitting astride his lap.

"Something I've been wanting to do since I first laid eyes on you…" she practically purred with promise.

The car was slowing down as he began applying pressure to the brakes. Whatever she was promising sounded good… and even though he'd always been given the impression that taking advantage of a drunken girl was morally wrong… he was only male.

His morals were practically non-existent anyway.

The convertible rolled to a complete stop and he smiled as he moved his hands from the wheel to her waist. "And what would that be, babe?"

She giggled and quickly reached up to tweak his ears. "These things are incredible! And Yuka was right – they are soft!" she chortled happily.

And that was all he was getting…?

He gave her an annoyed look as she continued fondling his ears. "Did you know that your underwear doesn't match?"

She stopped to look down at herself, seeming to note the blue knickers matched with the pink and white striped bra even through her alcohol induced haze of mind. She gasped loudly. "Oh yeah! Oh no! What if I got hit by a bus?!" she looked up at him. "They'd all see!"

"I think they already saw it all." Inuyasha picked her up and deposited her sharply down on the passenger seat. "Just sit down, shut up, and put your belt on!" 

She huffed dramatically and folded her arms. "I'm cold."

"You should try investing in clothes." He told her dryly as he revved up the engine again. "They're wonderful inventions."

"You're no fun…" she grumbled and turned away from him to watch the dark scenery flash by. He ignored her as a growing sense of dread bloomed in his stomach the closer they got to the villa. Someone would undoubtedly see them coming and once they saw how plastered Kagome was, he'd be skinned alive by Kikyo… when she returned.

He glanced over at Kagome who was now leaning over the edge of the car, watching the white dashes on the road flick past like a dog with its head out of the window. Maybe he could just about get away with this.

With one hand still on the wheel he shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over to her. "Put that on." He ordered.

"Why?" she held it up for inspection.

"Just do it!" he snapped and she stuck her tongue out at him before pulling her arms through the sleeves and sinking back down in her seat, huddled in a little ball beneath the jacket.

He sighed, trying to calm his nerves… what he needed was a cigarette, but thanks to the 'wonderful' idea to quit, he had nothing on him. Maybe he should take up smoking again and then try and quit next week when the girl was _finally _gone? Yeah… maybe that was the best solution. He just couldn't deal with the kind of stress she was giving him.

Time passed all too quickly and before he knew it he was already pulling up outside the villa. Undoubtedly someone on guard duty in the security room would have spotted his arrival and was sending either Sango or Miroku up to get him. He only had a matter of moments.

"Kagome," he said quietly, turning to her, she turned back, instantly forgetting their earlier disagreement. "You know that bump that we hit back there…?"

She stared blankly at him. "Yes." Even though she probably didn't remember hitting any bump of any sort.

"Well, it wasn't a bump… it was a kitten." He said gravely.

She gasped, her eyes already turning glossy with emerging tears. "No!" she squeaked. "Oh no!"

"I know…" Inuyasha nodded sympathetically, tapping his mental foot with impatience. "Sorry… squashed it flat."

It was remarkable how easily a drunken teenage girl could be reduced to tears in a matter of seconds at the slightest upset. "A kitten?" she whispered. "Poor thing… didn't even get a chance to live its life to fullest… just another little life snuffed out in the grand scale of things."

Damn… now he was actually feeling guilty for killing the imaginary kitten. He awkwardly patted her shoulder. "There, there." He said stiffly. "Let it out."

She took his word for it and immediately flopped against his shoulder and bawled her eyes out. Wow… what a responsive girl.

Inuyasha's timing proved perfect as Miroku chose that very moment to come running around the corner of the villa. "Where the hell have you two been? Everyone's been worried sick!" he berated as he approached the car. "What happened?" he stopped beside the car, and for the first time seemed to realise Kagome's distress. "Why is she crying?" then he noticed something much more interesting.. "Why is she in her underwear?"

Inuyasha heard the slightly appreciative tone in his voice and he covered Kagome's ears with the pretence of one who was trying to spare her feelings. "We got separated… this gang found her and… well, you can see for yourself. But of course I found her in time to save her chastity and stuff…"

"…and stuff?" Miroku hadn't believed a word of it. He stared hard at Inuyasha with a raised eyebrow.

"Which… is why she is half naked…" _And not because I inadvertently got her drunk and had her striptease for a house of horny students…_

"Uh huh." Miroku folded his arms and opened his mouth to say something more when Kagome suddenly peeled herself off Inuyasha's shoulder to turn her tear stained face to the dark haired employee.

"We're killers." She whimpered. "We're no better than… *sniff*… Hitler!"

Inuyasha tried to discreetly shake his head at her. "No, Kagome, no – don't-"

"Did you kill someone?" Miroku asked him sharply.

"No!" Inuyasha said quickly.

"Yes!" Kagome wailed. "Yes we did! A beautiful little someone…" she clambered out of the convertible without bothering to open the door. She collapsed into Miroku's already open and eager arms. "That kitten will never see the sun rise again… it's awful… I'm such a horrible person!"

Inuyasha let his head drop into his hands, feeling that stress beginning to surface again. Well… the cat was out of the bag now…

"A kitten, huh?" Miroku sounded confused, but not completely unhappy to have Kagome weeping into his shoulder. Inuyasha slowly turned a glare on the other male, warning him with a frosty glower to not get too comfortable. "Well… not to worry, Kagome, I'm sure it was very quick and painless…" he rubbed her back in a comforting manner then sniffed absently. Inuyasha saw him stiffen, then repeat that sniff. "Do I smell vodka?"

Kagome sniffled through her tears with a frown. "Yeah, I keep smelling vodka too…" she said curiously.

Miroku looked at her seriously. "My god… are you drunk?"

"Yes – I mean – no!" she glanced back guiltily at Inuyasha. "Sorry."

He smiled weakly. "It's alright."

Miroku gave him a reproving look. "You got her drunk? You're not supposed to do-"

"I know!" Inuyasha hissed back. "I didn't realise until it was too late – and don't you dare give me one of your lectures."

"Well I won't, but Kikyo will." Miroku said bluntly, still holding Kagome but more so to keep her from wandering off than anything else.

"Well don't tell her then." Inuyasha said, getting out of the car the same way as Kagome.

"That might be difficult." Miroku hissed.

"Why? Why would that be difficult?"

"Because she's here." Miroku jerked his thumb back at the villa. "She arrived back today while you were out… when she sees Kagome like this then she'll make your life a misery for the next month or so."

"Shit…" Inuyasha said with feeling. He grabbed Kagome by the shoulders and forcibly pried her off Miroku. "Trust me you don't want to do anything you'll regret later," he hissed to her.

"Well if you can find some way to hide her till she's sober…" Miroku folded his arms.

Inuyasha thought hard for a moment. "Ok… ok… hide her. Good." He started ushering a slightly wobbly Kagome towards the corner of the building. "Miroku – put the car away – and not a word to anyone!"

Miroku made the gesture of zipping his lips shut as he moved around the car to get behind the wheel to take it back into the garage. Inuyasha paid him no more mind as he continued shepherding Kagome along around the edge of the building. "Can't you walk faster?" he said impatiently.

"Well if the ground would stop tipping then I would!" she huffed indignantly, a mild slur marred her tone still.

"Oh forget it," he picked her up and tossed her back over his shoulder in typical carrying carpet fashion. She giggled and drummed happily on his behind as he carried her off in the direction of the pool. "Would you stop that?!" he ground out.

"'t'so cute!" she chirped.

He had half a mind to dump her in the pool to sober her up, but the splash would probably wake the slumbering members of the household and arouse suspicions. Best just get her some place safe and quiet so she could sleep off the booze.

He decided to take the short, easy route to his bedroom – by jumping up to the balcony. The only problem with that was the fact that Kagome whooped and screamed the moment he left the ground. The second he landed on the balcony he dumped her on the floor and clamped a hand over her mouth. "Will you shut up, _please_?!" he stressed.

She pushed his hand away. "I feel sick…"

"That's your own fault." He opened the balcony door and helped her to her shaky feet to drag her inside the bedroom. "Now you're going to take a nap and when you wake up you'll feel a lot better."

"Oh good." She tottered towards his bed the moment he released her to shut the balcony door. The moment he realised where she was heading he quickly swooped over to steer her away. "No – you're not sleeping in that – you're not throwing up in _my _bed!"

Kagome gave him a perplexed look.

"Come on, you can sleep over here." He tugged her towards the bathroom door and pushed her inside. He pointed to floor. "There, you can sleep there."

Her brow furrowed. "You're making me sleep on the floor!" then muttered something liked _"Evil bastard…"_

"Yes, on the floor." He applied pressure on her shoulder to push her down. She went down without too much hassle and curled up in the sleeping position with her eyes closed, ready to drop off.

Inuyasha looked around the bathroom, before grabbing a couple of towels off the shelf next to the shower and dropping it down next to her. "There's a pillow."

She pulled them under her head listlessly.

He marched back into his room and hauled the top sheet that covered his quilt and dragged it to the bathroom. He draped it over Kagome, despite the fact that she was already wearing his jacket, making sure that he left nothing uncovered to catch a chill in the night. "The toilet's right next to you, if you have to hurl you better not miss."

The only response he got was a soft snore.

Shaking his head he turned off the bathroom light and shut the door quietly after him. At the same time, a knock sounded on his door. He winced and looked towards the sound, already aware that it was Kikyo. No one on earth possessed such a no-nonsense knock.

He did a quick check of his room to make sure that there was no evidence that Kagome had been there. Satisfied, he went to open the door. "Oh Kikyo, what a surprise!" he said in one quick breath, blocking her view into the room with his frame. "What do you want?"

"Where's Kagome?" she got straight to the point. She seemed apprehensive, probably concerned that he was still ready to bite her head off about inviting the girl back.

"Um… sleeping… in her room." Fortunately his own apprehension of _her _biting _his _head off for getting said girl drunk was enough to forgive any animosity between them. "We had a lot of fun today, wore the poor thing out."

"I see…" She looked mildly shocked. "You were actually nice to her then?"

"When am I not nice to her?" he contradicted.

"Mm." Kikyo gave a brief roll of her eyes. "Well then, you better get some sleep. You have the finals match tomorrow and I want you training nice and early."

"Right. Goodnight." Inuyasha said quickly and was about to slam the door when he remembered something. "Oh – how was jury duty by the way?"

"Oh." Kikyo shrugged carelessly. "Interesting. Turned out that the accused _was _innocent and that my hypothesis was correct despite the fact that I was pulling it out of my ass."

"I see…" Inuyasha said slowly. He really needed to keep up with what Kikyo was up to these days.

"Goodnight, Inuyasha." She said loftily and walked away.

Inuyasha shut the door quickly and went back to the bathroom to do a quick check on Kagome. She was still sleeping soundly the same way he had left her.

She was bound to have a hell of a hang-over when she woke up…

~*~

Kagome's head was pounding like hell when she woke up. With a groggy groan she pushed herself upright, letting her blanket slide off of her as she put a hand to her head. He brain felt loose… or like someone had taken a jackhammer to her skull.

Instinctively she tried to remember how she'd ended up in such a state, but the moment she put any brain power behind the effort, her stomach revolted and lurched dangerously.

She was going to hurl…

Her head spun as she opened her eyes, trying to find a safe place to relive her last meal… miraculously, she spotted the toilet bowl only a foot away from her. She dived towards it desperately and spent the next few minutes waiting for the nauseous spell to end.

Finding the light switch was her next task and once that was accomplished she stood swaying unsteadily, looking around and wondering. "How the heck did I end up in the bathroom…?" she muttered, taking in the towels and patterned sheet on the floor that had acted as her bed.

She noticed a pile of fresh clothes from her own wardrobe stacked beside the bath tub. It was only when she looked down at herself that she realised she was wearing only a mismatched set of underwear and someone's jacket. It definitely smelled masculine.

Kagome, still only half-awake, shed the jacket and pulled on the fresh clothes, not really caring whether or not she buttoned all the buttons or zipped all the zips. She stumbled out of the bathroom, still feeling queasy, but tottered her way to the bed. She sighed comfortably as she slid under the cool covers and shifted until she was comfortable.

She got that odd, vague sense that this wasn't _her _bed. But then again, she'd been getting used to that feeling over the past week or so, so naturally it didn't perturb her…

~*~

Nothing but a total pain in the ass…

Inuyasha waited stiffly until she fell asleep again. She probably had no idea that she'd just crawled into bed with him, but he wasn't about to let her stay… not in _his _bed with _that _upset stomach. Plus, when she woke up she'd probably slap him and call him a pervert.

So he let her steal the blankets as she drifted off, and only when he was certain she was fast asleep he made his move.

Silently slipping out from under the covers, he padded around to her side of the bed and gently pulled the covers back. He tried not jostle her too much when he hooked his arms under her knees and around her back.

Then it was just a matter of transporting her back to her own room. A difficult task when Kagome insisted on lolling in every awkward direction while muttering something about 'Gerbils…' in her sleep. He rolled his eyes faintly, but kept his hold gentle as he carried her out of his room and down the hall her own door. Fortunately it wasn't locked and he manoeuvred to open it without waking the sleeping girl in his arms.

He noticed that he room was significantly tidier than his own, and even though she'd only been living in it for a week or so, he could tell that she'd already personalised it with her own scent. A pleasant feminine scent that radiated with softness.

He carefully set her down on the bed and drew the covers over her. She shifted in her sleep and snuggled into her pillow, murmuring a vague '_Thank you…_" in her dreams.

"You won't be saying that in the morning." He said quietly, and resisted the urge to brush aside the lock of hair that had fallen across her face. He didn't want to become a _total _mother just yet. Instead he smiled slightly at the deceptively innocent image she portrayed when she slept. When she was awake she was nosy, annoying, and tended to like telling him what was wrong with him. Not that she didn't come across as innocent when she was awake… in fact he wondered if that was the first time she'd ever been drunk.

"Sweet dreams." He murmured softly before exiting the room and heading back to bed. He had a fight tomorrow and already he was behind on his sleep.

The thing that girl put him through.

~*~

"So… every time the red light goes off… the electricity stops?"

"That's right, so every time the red light goes off you can touch the fence." Sesshomaru told his darling little children.

The triplets stared at the mains box at the top of the electric fence that bordered the outdoor pool area, just behind the bushes. A little red light blinked back at them, a two second delay between each flash. "So…" A third of the triplet trio scratched his chin thoughtfully. "If we jump every time the light comes on – we'll avoid getting shocked!"

Sesshomaru smiled slightly. "Go knock yourselves out." He patted their dear little heads and turned to head back towards where Kikyo stood by the villa doors, leaving behind him the various shouts of the three boys who were now latched onto the fence. "Jump!… jump!… jump!… jump! – OW! What's wrong with you?!! You have no rhythm!"

Kikyo was shaking her head as Sesshomaru approached. "Why are you bringing them along? Or did you decide we just didn't have our hands full enough already?"

"Wife wouldn't take them. So I had to do it instead." He supplied simply, keeping his eyes trained on the villa. "So where's my younger brother?"

"Training," Kikyo glanced at her watch as the electric buzzing continued behind the bushes. "We should be leaving for the arena at eleven. Which reminds me…"

She put a hand to her ear-piece. "Sango, wake Kagome up. We're supposed to be leaving in an hour."

The triplets continued.

"Wait, wait – let's hold hands and then touch it!"

~*~

"Kagome – Kagome are you in there?!"

Someone was pounding on her head, she was sure of it. Kagome shifted under her covers with a slight grimace as her limbs and joints stiffened painfully for the movement. She opened her eyes and blinked rapidly as she took in her surroundings.

It was morning…

"Kagome?" The banging continued. "Hello?"

It was only then that she realised the banging was actually coming from the door and not from inside her own head. She sat up slowly and ran a hand over her wayward hair. "Sango?" she called back with a croak in her voice. She rubbed her throat.

"We're leaving in an hour, you better get dressed!" the other girl warned before leaving.

Kagome sniffed and inhaled deeply, chasing away the fatigue still riddling her mind. She looked down at herself… then blinked in surprise.

Why had she gone to bed in her clothes?

She sat there for a long moment, trying to remember what had caused her to forget to change into her pyjamas. And that's when it struck her… she just didn't remember at all. In fact she could remember _nothing _of what had happened the evening before.

This led to Kagome's panic attack.

"Uhh… uhh… my name is Kagome – Kagome Higurashi – I'm fifteen and I have a cat called Buyo!" she rattled off, relieved to know that she knew the important things. It seemed that only last night remained the mystery to her.

Although, it began dawning on her as her expression clouded over to anger, she remembered entering a party with a certain white-haired block-head… something about interestingly flavoured water… and then the rest happened to be one big racing blur.

"I'm going to kill him…" she whispered vehemently to herself as she put all the missing pieces together. "I'm going to kill him!"

AN: Apparently in one of the more recent character books by Rumiko Takahashi, she states that Inuyasha is actually only **15 **years old. 0_0 Well that completely threw me… I had him pegged as 16 or 17 at the youngest.


	19. PreBattle Jitters

****

Author's Notes: About that Inuyasha age thing… I think it's true. But bear in mind that this is a very recent thing which would only apply to the manga (since Takahashi has no real control over the anime now). Since the anime was made quite a while ago with only Rumiko's guidance of 'he has the mind of a seventeen year old' so naturally the anime seems to feature an older Inuyasha. Strangely enough, I can see him being fifteen in the manga (if you've seen some of the pictures with his shirt off, you'll know what I mean, doesn't anyone feed the poor lad?). Besides, fifteen is only his age in human years equivalent. He seems to be _mentally _around seventeen, but he's actually _over _sixty years old, though the _theoretical _human age would be fifteen. 

Which means he isn't actually fifteen.

Confused?

Well even more confusing, Sesshomaru's 'official' human age is nineteen (which is Miroku's age as well if memory serves me right), another one who's younger than he looks. Though we all know for a fact that he's well over fifty years old (seeing as how he lived all the way through Inuyasha's entrapment) and in the anime he appears to be at least in his early twenties (his voice seems slightly too old to be something-teen). 

But to save all our sanity and our fangirls from worrying about cradle snatching; I think it's safe to say that anime Inuyasha is at least seventeen. However Rumiko Takahashi's manga Inuyasha seems to be around fifteen (though she says he's mentally two years more mature).

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 19

Pre-Battle Jitters…

"Dammit!" Miroku smashed his fists down hard on his table.

Inuyasha paused his push-ups to look across the gym. Miroku had dissolved into a helpless heap in front of the computer, arms clamped over his head which lay on the desk in despair. He knew he probably shouldn't pursue the matter, but he did anyway. "What's the matter with you?"

"Sango…" Miroku said brokenly, his voice muffled by the table surface.

Inuyasha frowned slightly as he got back on his feet and grabbed a towel to rest around his shoulders. "Let me guess… you finally told her how you feel about her and she blew you off in favour of…" his gaze turned out the window to the pool area where Sesshomaru, Kikyo and Sango were conversing. Sango was smiling. "… my brother?"

"No!" Miroku sat up suddenly and pointed to a socket in the computer. "She took away my Internet access! Now I can't get back onto that European Lesbian chat room!"

"Oh woe is you." Inuyasha said flatly.

Miroku glared at him. "You have no idea how cruel this is, do you! You don't know what it's like to have something you really want snatched away from you and be unable to get it back."

"Hello?" Inuyasha gave him a 'duh' look. "I quit smoking last Sunday!"

"So?!" Miroku shot back, the withdrawal symptoms were already etching stress into his face. "At least you can take it back up whenever you like!"

"Do you _see _any smokes around… here…" he trailed off blankly as Miroku reached into his jacket pocket and produced a shiny, shrink wrapped packet of silk cut Melbourne… "Oh… you organised this didn't you?"

"Face it." Miroku said, clasping the packet between his thumb and forefinger. "You can take one of these cigarettes now if you really wished. Me, however, cannot connect to the Internet until Sango gives me back my cable – which she won't do for at least another fortnight."

Inuyasha scowled hard at him. "You think I'm so weak don't you? Just because you wave a packet of cigarettes under my nose you think I won't be able to resist temptation!"

Miroku stared at him silently while Inuyasha just stared back irritably with his arms folded. His claws were beginning to rap impatiently against his upper arm as his glare switched to the packet of cigarettes.

The glare began to lose its integrity until he realised he was just staring at it with complete longing…

"You were saying?" Miroku quirked an eyebrow up.

"Give me that!" Inuyasha snatched the box from him. "I'll prove to you – I can smoke one of these right now and not feel even the slightest urge to do it ever again! I do not have an addictive personality you know."

Miroku smirked smugly as Inuyasha hastily ripped the plastic wrapper off the packet. "So says your drinking, drugging and compulsively violent behaviour when-"

"Shut up." Inuyasha jammed one of the cigarettes between his lips and tossed away the rest of the box. "Give me your lighter."

Miroku handed it over without qualm.

The light clicked repeatedly as Inuyasha tried to spark it. Miroku didn't use it very much and he'd had it for a very _long _time, so naturally this was going to take quite a bit of patience. Something Inuyasha was running short on.

The door lurched open and slammed against the wall, making both men jump.

Kagome stood in the frame, clothes wrinkled and hair favouring the more 'matted' style that morning. Her keen glare snapped on Inuyasha. "You…" she grated out slowly in a venomous tone. "What the hell did you do?!"

__

How the hell did she know?! Inuyasha quickly knocked the cigarette out of his mouth and contrived to look innocent. Pity his voice cracked slightly when he said. "Nothing."

Miroku was discreetly inching backwards out of the line of fire as Kagome stormed further into the room, her sights only set on Inuyasha. "You have got a lot to answer for…" she continued, stalking him evenly as he anxiously slipped away, trying to put tables and apparatus between them. "I woke up in bed this morning to find myself completely dressed in different clothes than yesterday, yet strangely seem to be wearing the same underwear. Not only that but I feel like I have the flu – my head hurts and my joints are sore and my tongue feels furry and my mouth tastes bad."

"Oh!" Inuyasha suddenly realised. "You're mad about getting drunk!"

"WHAT ELSE WAS THERE?!" she yelled cornering him with only the treadmill to separate them.

"Well there was me just about to smo… nevermind." It was better to try and _not _antagonise her any more than necessary. But maybe a little antagonising was called for in his defence. "For the record – getting drunk was your own fault!"

"Why was I even in a position to get drunk in the first place, huh?!" she circled around the treadmill. Inuyasha quickly moved in the opposite direction to keep the distance. "Because you took my to a party and abandoned me!"

"Did I tell you to get drunk?!" he snapped back.

"You should have told me that every drink in the damn house was alcoholic! I thought I was drinking grape fruit juice!" she shouted.

"Damn, I liked you better when you were drunk." He griped, then noticed Miroku was making a speedy getaway through the door. "Where are you going?!"

"I, uh… heard Sango call me." Miroku said lamely before ducking out of sight through the door completely.

__

Just me and you then… Inuyasha thought as he watched the hot-tempered girl opposite him. "What are you so mad about? So what you got a little drunk? It happens to everyone at least once in their life."

"I'm fifteen!" She hissed. "I'm underage!"

"So?" he challenged.

"I don't want to be getting liver-transplants when I'm thirty!" Kagome snapped.

"You're overreacting!" he snapped. "You're not mad about that."

"You're right." She said snippily. "I'm _mad _that I can't remember most of what happened last night. What if I did something I'll regret?!"

"Well then thank god you don't remember it." Inuyasha shrugged tensely.

She gasped in exasperation. "What happened last night – tell me what I did!"

Inuyasha weighed that request. Should he tell her? Maybe it was best to lie and say that she'd just passed out after the first drink and had done nothing for the rest of the evening. But… Kagome was smart, she'd suspect anything he told her. So he told the truth. "You got drunk. You stripped down to your underwear and was dancing around on the table to one of Christina Aguilera's songs. What's the matter, you've gone awfully pale."

She swallowed hard, staring at him with a wide eyes. "I didn't… did I?"

Inuyasha grimaced and nodded. He couldn't help but grin a little at her expense. "Actually, you're quite a funny drunk. You should get your hands on Tequila more often."

She stomped her foot, not pleased with that suggestion. "_Why_ did you let that happen?!" she ranted. "Why didn't you stop me?!"

"Because I wasn't around… but when I found you I took you straight home." He said firmly.

"Was that before or after you took advantage of me?" she asked through clenched teeth.

"During – no! Never!" Oops.

Kagome seemed to bristle like a cat that had been given a bath. She did not look happy. She folded her arms tightly across her chest. "And another thing." She breathed murderously. "How come I seem to remember sleeping in the bathroom with a couple of towels and a blanket from someone's bed? Yet when I woke up, there were no towels in my bathroom and my bed cover was still on my bed."

Inuyasha looked away.

"Just whose bathroom did I sleep in?" she demanded.

Inuyasha folded his arms, mirroring her stance. "Mine." He said simply. He saw her about to erupt into another fit of shouting, and so cut her off before she could get started. "But before you start yelling at me again – let me tell you that it was for your own good!"

She scoffed in outrage. "Why would that be?!"

"Because you were drunk." He said in an obvious, degrading way. "You were pissed out of your tiny little female mind, and you were threatening to throw up."

"Oh." She gave him a hard look. "So you stationed me near your bog so that I wouldn't throw-up on your carpet?"

"No." he narrowed his eyes. "It was so that if you threw up in the middle of the night, then at least I can keep an eye on you. People can die if they're left on their own after a bad binge. I would have put you in your own bed from the beginning, but I can't see through walls to make sure that you're not choking on your vomit."

Well that was kinda gross. Kagome didn't like that idea one bit… but something else bothered her. Had he actually _cared _at all about her welfare last night. "So… you were looking out for me?" she asked quietly, uncertain.

He shrugged. "I'm not a complete bastard. Even I have my limits." 

She was still mad… after all, because of him she wasn't feeling at all well that morning. She probably _looked _five times worse than she felt as well. She looked down and noticed for the first time how wrinkled and untidy her dress sense was, and even without putting her hands on her head, she knew that her hair was unspeakably Attila-the-Hun-ish.

Kagome glanced back up at Inuyasha to see him watching her with just as much uncertainty. He seemed to be waiting for her next reason for why he was asshole. Fortunately for him, she had no more accusations to throw at him. The fact that he'd actually bothered to look after her last night had stunned her… she couldn't bring herself to shout at him anymore.

"Well?" he said suddenly.

"Well what?" she mumbled with a shrug.

"Where's the rest of your Spanish inquisition?"

She rolled her eyes faintly. "Don't be so cynical." She admonished.

Hurried footsteps sounded behind them and they glanced towards the gym doorway in time to see Sango arrived. "We're leaving, come on!" With that she scampered away just as quickly as she'd arrived.

They both acknowledged her announcement, but neither of them moved… until Kagome crouched down and picked up the cigarette that Inuyasha had dropped earlier. She rose with a faint frown. "You know, you shouldn't be doing these things… I thought you quit."

"Momentary lapse of reason." He shrugged, running his gaze over her. "And likewise, you shouldn't be leaving your room without looking in the mirror."

She blinked at him. "What?"

He moved closer to her until he was stood right before her. She almost edged back nervously, wondering what the hell he was trying to pull this time. His hands moved up towards her head and for one insane moment she thought he was going to kiss her…

But all Inuyasha did was comb his fingers through her hair, untangling it in a few strokes and arranging it around her shoulders in the critical way a hair stylist used. He dropped his hands and smiled. "There we are. Much better."

She had no idea if that smile was genuine or not. But she was stumped. "Uh…" she managed intelligently. "Uh… I think, we better get going then."

"I think you're right." He nodded and moved past her, leaving her to either follow or get left behind.

She got left behind.

Kagome stared after him in complete confusion, touching a hand to her significantly neater hair. "Weird…" she breathed to herself before gathering her wits and trotting after him before their ride to the sports arena left without her all together.

~*~

"Hurry up in there!" Inuyasha hissed quietly, pacing up and down the length of the men's room toilet.

Sesshomaru's patient sigh could be heard from in one of the stalls. "Inuyasha. Would you prefer to do it yourself if you're in such a hurry?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes, knowing perfectly well that his brother was being sarcastic. A drugs test was still impossible for him to pass. It took much more than a week for the traces of the drug to completely disappear from his system, even though the effects had long since been unnoticeable.

The stall door opened and Sesshomaru stepped out, holding out the urine sample with an expression of mild distaste. "There. Do what you want with it."

"The possibilities of what I could do with this are mind-boggling." Inuyasha said dryly as he accepted the plastic container. "Wait in here till the coast is clear." He reminded Sesshomaru who rolled his eyes heavenward and went back in his stall to brood. Inuyasha left him to his own devices and exited the bathroom.

Two members of staff were waiting just outside the door. "The sample?" one of them prompted with his hand held out.

Inuyasha handed it over, as routine as ever.

"Thank you, sir, good luck."

Good luck with the fight or good luck with the test? 

Inuyasha headed back to his changing room where he found the rest of his mini entourage hanging out. Kagome was happily bantering away with Sango, cooing over a triplet each. The third triplet was plaiting Kagome's hair. Miroku and Kikyo were engaged in what looked like a deep conversation.

"Everything ok?" Miroku asked when he noticed Inuyasha's arrival.

"Fine." Inuyasha shrugged. "Nothing to suspect."

Kikyo stepped away from the others with his duffel bag. "Go have a shower and get ready. The fight starts in half an hour."

"You're opponent is Mr Meatball." Miroku added.

"Oh god…" Inuyasha almost felt physically sick. "That _thing _is not a man – it's a sumo wrestling meatball who seems to delight in falling on me… after going without a shower for three months."

"He's calling himself Peach Man now, didn't you know." Sango called over from where she was playing snap with a triplet.

"Peach man?" Inuyasha echoed.

They all shrugged at him, not really knowing what it meant either.

"Well… I better go take that shower." Inuyasha took the bag from Kikyo and headed into the back changing room for his privacy. The room was empty save for a few benches one open window, but Inuyasha wasn't too fussed about closing it, after all he was already two stories up so there was little chance of a peeping Tom looking in. He locked the door just in case anyone was tempted to follow him in and quickly shrugged out of his clothes as he headed for the showers.

He thought about how close he had come to being gutted that morning. One wrong word and the information about Kagome's mini-adventure might have been leaked to someone like Kikyo or even Sango. But thankfully his quick thinking had saved him. If he hadn't made that excuse that he'd been trying to look after her then…

Inuyasha stopped completely. His hand rested on the back of his neck as the water droplets rained down on his face as he took a moment to think about it. It hadn't been an excuse at all, had it? In his own bumbling way he had not put her in that bathroom to hide her, but to keep an eye on her in case she hurt herself. God only knew how many times he'd inadvertently hurt himself in the middle of a drunken stupor with no one around to watch him.

He let out a deep sigh and closed eyes, getting on with the task of thoroughly soaking himself before the match. But why bother? He was only going to get hot and sweaty and bloody… and sat on at some point.

"… Sucks…" he grunted as he turned the water off and towelled off as he headed towards his bag.

He'd only just managed to change back into his underwear when someone dropped through the window.

Kouga.

Inuyasha blinked as the wolf straightened and dusted himself off. "Oh hello." He said on impulse, frowning slightly. "What the heck are you doing here?"

"Came to wish you good luck for the finals." Kouga responded with a serious face.

"Really?" Inuyasha blinked again.

Kouga snorted and broke out into a smirk. "No, I came to sabotage your chances. Who do you think I am?"

Well that was expected. Inuyasha gave a dramatic sigh. "I _really _don't have time for this." He told the other boxer. "I have a fight in twenty minutes and I just don't-"

"You think I'll let you sweep past me so easily?" Kouga interrupted, moving towards and checking the lock. Inuyasha watched him dubiously. "Thanks to someone gunning me down in the street I missed our scheduled fight. And what do I find when I get out of hospital? You moving straight onto the finals through pure luck alone. You don't deserve it."

Inuyasha glanced at his watch quickly. "You're right, I don't." he agreed honestly. "But what are you going to do about it? I didn't shoot you."

"I know that." Kouga cracked his knuckles. "But maybe we can even things out. If you beat me now in a fair fight, then both you and I will know that are worthy of the championship. However… if you lose to me, then you must promise that you will lose to your next opponent."

Inuyasha stared at him unmovingly. For all appearances, Kouga looked serious about that challenge.

Well… Inuyasha was going to hold him to that. "Fine. You and me right now to those terms. But if you cheat then I won't promise to lose to the meatball guy."

"Done." Kouga shrugged out of his jacket and let it fall to the ground. He kicked it out of the way towards the benches. Inuyasha idly watched him square his shoulders and realised that perhaps fighting with only his boxers on wasn't a particularly good idea…

Good idea or not, it was going to have to do as Kouga took the first step in a furious attack.

~*~

"You did _what _to your mother's kitchen?" Kagome gaped at the three triplets lined up before her.

"Blew it up." The end one said with a mild shrug.

"With the microwave." The one in the middle added.

Kagome continued to gape at them in a very fish-like manner. The other adults seemed to be keeping well out of this one. "Dare I ask," Kagome began, "Just how a bunch of nine year olds managed to blow up a kitchen."

"Were you watching Home Alone again?" Miroku asked from nearby.

"No." the triplet in the middle shook his head. "Inuyasha told us how to do it."

Well… no surprises there. Kagome frowned. "Inuyasha told you to blow up your kitchen?"

They nodded. "But he said we shouldn't tell Dad that."

"He told us that if you put a balloon filled with propane and oxygen into a microwave with a spoon attached to the side to give a spark, then the microwave would blow up." One triplet said. His brother continued. "We didn't believe him so we took a balloon from the party drawer and filled it with propane from the barbecue and oxygen from the nanny's oxygen tank."

"And then blew up the microwave." The last triplet finished.

(note: do not try that at home – it actually _does _blow up your microwave)

"Well… what did your mom say?" Kagome asked, morbidly fascinated despite herself.

"Oh she shouted at dad and then dad shouted at her and then Mom said that she had to go give the pool boy his cheque and then dad said that he needed to drop off something with his secretary."

What a wonderful family. She was just about to go and warn them not to ever listen to a blockhead like their teenage uncle ever again lest it end in someone being maimed – when Sango called her.

"Hey Kagome, where were you yesterday anyway?" She cocked her head with a puzzled smile. "I hear you didn't turn up till past curfew."

"Uh…" Kagome struggled to think of some good excuse while Miroku had a small coughing fit in his corner. "I… I mean, we went to the cinema… long film… didn't get out till quite late."

"What film was it?" Sango asked.

"Uh… some… English film about weddings and funerals, I didn't really get it. Way too long." Kagome said dismissively.

"That's good." Sango suddenly looked relieved. "I was worried Inuyasha had dragged you off somewhere unsavoury to teach you how smoke weed."

Miroku snorted into his can of coke. "Inuyasha wouldn't do that." He glanced over at Inuyasha's agent. "However, Kikyo might."

Kikyo glared at him stonily, but Miroku seemed immune to it. Both Sango and Kagome stared at the agent till Sango popped the question. "You what?"

"Oh didn't she tell you?" Miroku said cheerfully, moving over to sling an arm around Kikyo's stiff shoulders. "Back in Kikyo's hay day she used to be quite the rebel with the illegal substances." Kagome blinked at her… but Kikyo wasn't saying anything to deny that accusation. "Is that true?" she asked her.

Kikyo rolled her eyes and pushed Miroku off. "Don't be silly. It was one time… and the fact that it happened to be broadcast to a nation of millions was an unhappy accident."

"Damn funny though." Miroku sniggered. "That's how we decided to hire her. We saw her presenting a kid's news program when she was seventeen-"

"I was doing a report on the troops in the middle east who had confiscated lots of illegal material after a raid on a terrorist base." Kikyo picked up the threat of the story, obviously determined to tell it her way without Miroku embroidering the story. "I presented the report in front of a field where the soldiers were burning piles of firearms, counter-fit clothes and… cannabis."

"Smoke was pouring all over them." Miroku grinned. "By the fifth take she was stumbling over her words… by the fifteenth she was on the floor laughing her ass off."

"That was a long time ago," Kikyo said hotly.

Miroku laughed. "Still funny as-"

He broke off his words as a crash sounded from the next room. Kagome turned with the others towards the changing room door in surprise as a loud curse rang out. Another crash, sharper that time, echoed and they jumped slightly. Miroku made his way to the door. "Inuyasha – are you alright in there?"

"You bastard!" was the furious response.

"Sorry," Miroku sounded miffed. "I was only-"

"GET OFF ME!"

That hadn't been Inuyasha's voice on the other side of that door. Miroku quickly tried the handle, only to find it locked. Kagome hurried to the door and tried it herself, but the door still wouldn't budge. Kikyo looked on, shaking her head. "We can't get through that – we need someone stronger-"

"Like demons!" The triplets chorused. "We'll do it."

Everyone around the door quickly backed off as the triplets scraped their feet the way bulls did before they charged. Then with one almighty, yet very squeaky roar, they hurtled towards the door…

…and bounced off with a collective thud.

Kikyo sighed as the three boys staggered away looking very confused. She approached the door and knocked on it. "What's going on in there?!" she called loudly.

"Just a minute!" Inuyasha sounded strained.

All they could do was wait anxiously, listening to the various thuds and cries from inside the changing room. Kagome shifted impatiently from foot to foot, wondering what the hell was happening inside that they could hear, yet not see or do anything about.

Then everything fell quiet.

Inuyasha opened the door, panting, and bleeding in streams from various wounds over his body. "Sorry about that," he gasped, then promptly collapsed onto the floor at Kagome's feet with a groan.

"My god…" Kagome quickly crouched down to touch his head tentatively while Miroku and Sango dashed into the changing room.

The pristine white tiles on the wall were now slated with rather sickeningly fresh blood. Kagome felt her nausea rise as she peered through the doorway, seeing the red mingle with the water like a scene straight out of Psycho.

Kouga was slumped directly against the opposite wall, panting and conscious, but in no condition to stand. Miroku and Sango went to help him as Kikyo simply folded her arms and tutted. "You do realise Inuyasha that you have your championship fight in less than ten minutes."

"Mm hm." He panted from the floor, wincing at the aches and pains that marred him. Kagome shook her head.

"You're such an idiot." She told him softly.

"I know…" he inwardly cringed at the soft motherly scolding tone to her voice.

"You have to fight someone stronger in a minute."

"I know…"

"Inuyasha?" Kagome asked hesitantly.

"Yes?"

"If you die, can I have your Silver Porsche?"

AN: Don't worry about the flamers people, they've stopped since I wrote that thing in the last chapter. But I'd like to thank everyone for their support and sympathy, I'm very touched ^_^


	20. A Heroic Victory

****

Author's Notes: I really need to go out and buy people presents… ok, anti-wrinkle cream for mum, deodorant for dad, wart-removal kit for my sister…

If I get hacked to pieces by my beloved family on Christmas morning, I _might _have trouble updating…

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 20

A Heroic Victory…

"Maybe he should withdraw from the match?" Kagome suggested anxiously as she and Miroku carefully helped Inuyasha to his feet.

"I'm fine!" Inuyasha groused, shooting a look over his shoulder to where Kikyo was waving a hand in front of Kouga's face. The wolf was barely conscious… which wasn't exactly a bad thing. "With him beat, fighting the next guy will be a doddle. Anyway… it's now or never."

"That's the spirit!" Miroku clapped a hand over his shoulder, seemingly unaware of how much that had hurt. "You could beat that guy ten times over, couldn't you?"

__

I'll beat **you** ten times over you worthless piece of… "Sure!" Inuyasha put on a brave face as he leant on Miroku for support.

"Kagome," Miroku looked back at the school-girl. "You stay here with the others."

Kagome looked back at where Kouga was slumped against the changing room wall. Inuyasha was in bad shape… but that guy was much worse. Kagome almost felt sorry for him. Almost. "Ok…" she said slowly as she left the two boys to go join Kikyo beside Kouga. Crouching down beside the injured fighter, she poked a finger rather callously against his temple. A groan rumbled in his throat in response and Kagome looked up at Kikyo. "I think he's alive."

"Such a smart girl…" Kikyo uttered under her breath.

Kagome paused a moment, watching Miroku lead Inuyasha out of the adjoining room, heading towards the next match undoubtedly. She frowned uneasily. She knew that Inuyasha fighting in that condition was probably a bad idea… but like he'd said; 'now or never' meaning this was probably the only shot he had at the championship. Kagome didn't understand how earning the reputation of being the hardest and strongest guy in the country could sound appealing But it seemed important to these people…

She turned back to Kouga with a sigh, resting a hand on his shoulder that seemed to be unhindered by any injuries. "Hey, are you ok?" she asked softly, hoping that his brain was in more tact than his body.

"Ah… the massage girl…" he mumbled into his chest. "You're the girl who tricked me and then attacked me as soon as you had me alone."

Kagome took her hand off his shoulder. "You had it coming." She said shortly. "You don't go around slipping drugs into people's drinks. And what are you so scared off? Haven't you got an award for being best newcomer? Like you have to worry about being attacked by little schoolgirls-"

"What's the point?" he interrupted, lifting his head. Kagome had to fight the instinct to recoil in horror at the condition Inuyasha had left his face in. "I lost anyway… I'm a complete failure."

Oh god… he was going to get depressed. Kagome glanced up at Kikyo who was looking at her watch pointedly. She looked back down at Kouga. "You'll always have next year…?" she offered in what she felt was a bit of a lame attempt to cheer him up.

And judging by Kouga's glare, he felt it was a bit lame too.

With a sigh she rolled her eyes. "Well you lost fair and square, so you can't hold it against Inuyasha now. Right?" she narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.

Kouga smirked. "My only consolation is that perhaps now that he's wasted his energy on me, he won't have any left for the meatball guy."

"Peach man." Kikyo corrected.

"So sorry." Kouga said haughtily.

Kagome glowered at him. "Inuyasha will win – you'll see." She told him firmly.

"You can say that as many times as you like." Kouga told her. "Won't make it happen."

Kagome stared at him stonily for a moment before getting to her feet. "I'm gonna go get my seat." She told Kikyo and headed out of the changing rooms with only one last annoyed glance back at Kouga over her shoulder.

Sango and the triplets had already disappeared meaning that the match was due to start any minute. Kagome wandered around aimlessly through the endless corridors, only just remembering why she shouldn't have wondered off alone. She was just about to give up and retrace her steps back to the changing room when she walked out into the main, and by far the largest corridor in the building.

A few people were arriving, members of the public wearing their coats and holding their children by the hand. They all seemed to be heading the same way so Kagome joined the flow, reckoning that she would ultimately end up at the arena. 

Her deduction skills proved correct when she stopped outside the same doors she had gone through the first time she'd been there. A member of staff was collecting tickets before people were allowed to enter through the doors. "Tickets." He said bluntly when Kagome reached him.

"Uh… I have VIP tickets." She patted her pockets. "But not on me…"

"Uh huh." He gave her the 'do I look stupid?' look. "No tickets, no entry."

"Oh, but you see I'm Kagome Higurashi-"

"And I'm Bart Simpson. How do you do?" he made a flicking gesture with his hand. "Please move aside Miss."

Now this was new to her. To Kagome, she was, and always had been, Kagome Higurashi. People usually just took her word for it when she told them her name, but lately with this whole _fame _business people were more likely to believe her to be a liar rather than the lucky little schoolgirl who had won the offer of a life time.

"Look." She said diplomatically. "I _am _Kagome Higurashi – I came here with Inuyasha and-"

"I said please move aside Miss, you're blocking the way." The emotionless man gestured again.

"Yeah come on, Kid." A father with his two boys behind her sounded off agitatedly. "The fight's already started!"

"It has?" Kagome's eyes widened and she quickly tried to duck around the bouncer to get inside. He was probably more used to people pulling that move than she gave him credit for, because he caught her instantly and pushed her back. "No Miss, you can only go in with a ticket."

"Don't you know who I am?" she said hotly, but immediately regretted it. Now she was beginning to sound like Inuyasha.

"Miss, I neither know nor care. You could be Santa Claus's daughter for all-"

Sango barged past the man, exiting the door he was protecting. "Kagome, where the heck have you been – the fight started ages ago!" she grabbed her wrist and turned to drag her back inside. "Come on or else we'll miss the whole-"

"Wait a minute!" the bouncer recovered from Sango's unusually hard shove. "She can't go in there without a ticket!"

"But she's Kagome Higurashi." Sango said with a blatant shrug and then proceeded to drag Kagome back into the arena regardless of what anyone thought.

Kagome stumbled haplessly after Sango down the darkened steps between the tier seats. That hot, sticky atmosphere closed in around her again and she wrinkled her nose, trying not to breath in too much of the humidity in the air. "Thanks, that guy just didn't believe I was Kagome Higurashi…" she confided in Sango as her foot kicked an empty carton of popcorn.

"How could that be… oh no…" Sango trailed off with a deflated tone.

Kagome looked up to see what was the matter… it didn't take her long to find it. "Oh no…" Even though they were still far away from the central ring, Kagome could clearly see what was happening. 

The ring was barely big enough to accommodate the Peach Man, let alone both him and Inuyasha. The referee had taken to refereeing from the sidelines, but even then he wasn't doing much good to prevent the rather violent acts inside the ring.

Kagome flinched awkwardly as another chorus of boos and complaints rose from the crowd in a deafening crescendo. Inuyasha was slammed against the wooden base of the ring by the much larger, much fatter man above him who then promptly collapsed on him. Even Kagome was sure she heard Inuyasha's shout of pain.

"S-stop it…" She gazed on in paralysed horror until she came back to herself. "Stop it!" she screamed again, much louder and overtook Sango as she ran down heading straight for the ring.

She didn't know why, but she was willing to throw herself inside that ring and fight that oaf herself if it would bring an end to what she was seeing…

But no sooner did she try to climb the barricades that blocked the way to the area around the ring, than the burly guards caught her, appearing as if from no where to catch hold her arms the same way the bouncer had earlier.

"Let me go!" She raged, trying to twist out of their grasp. "He's hurting him!"

She stilled the moment the Peach Man rose again, lifting a very limp Inuyasha by an arm and a leg, then swung him in a circle like he was nothing but a rag toy. Anger swept through her again. "PUT HIM DOWN!" she screamed.

The peach man released… and Inuyasha went hurling out of the ring, straight into the commentators table.

The narration on the match suddenly ceased with a screech from the speakers. Sango's hand latched onto Kagome's shoulder. "Calm down, Kagome." Sango warned her lightly then waved aside the guards. "Let us through."

They must have recognised her because they certainly didn't argue as they stepped aside and let the two girls hop over the barrier. Kagome ran straight to where Miroku was already helping Inuyasha up.

"You shouldn't go back in there!" she said urgently as she gave her own shoulders as support for Inuyasha to stand.

"I have to beat him!" Inuyasha said through gritted teeth, glaring fiercely at his opponent who was waving his stubby arms triumphantly but only receiving a series of hisses.

Kagome shook her head. "He's kicking your ass-"

"Shut up!"

Miroku shook his head warningly at Kagome and she realised that there was probably nothing she could say that would stop Inuyasha from getting back in that ring. He removed his arms from her and Miroku's shoulders, limping off towards the ring with only half-hearted determination.

He looked beat already.

The commentators got their microphones back. _"Well… after that astounding victory for the Peach Man in the first round, it looks like Inuyasha is going back for **more **of that treatment. Man, if I were him I would quit my losses already…"_

"And here comes the second round!"

Kagome smacked her hand agitatedly against Miroku's arm. "Why are you letting him do this?!"

"It's his profession." Miroku said with a mild shrug, though he looked just as worried. "If he wants to keep on fighting that's up to him."

Kagome could only watch helplessly as the next round kicked off and instantly Inuyasha was caught up by the throat and pushed to the ground. He remained collected and quiet even as the peach man ground his knee into his back, wrenching one of Inuyasha's arms backwards. The pain was beginning to show on his face.

Kagome rushed forward, all but pushing the referee out of her way to climb up the side of the ring, clinging to the bungee ropes. She wasn't stupid enough to enter the ring, but she was sorely tempted. "Get off him!" she yelled hoarsely. "The only reason you're winning is because he's only just beaten Kouga! You wouldn't stand a chance against-"

"Kagome!" Inuyasha barked through the pain. "You're not helping!"

The spectators were going wild, beginning to throw their food and other odds and ends at the ring. Kagome wasn't sure whether they were booing the Peach Man or Inuyasha's pathetic attempts to defend himself. The commentators were talking too fast to comprehend what they were saying, the peach man was grinding his knee harder and Inuyasha's arm was cracking, he was screaming and _no one was doing anything!_

How could anyone just stand by and watch someone be tortured like that?! "Inuyasha!" Kagome screamed and lurched forward, forgetting herself as she intended to jump into the ring.

Sango and Miroku stopped her at the last second, pulling her back down to earth sharply with a jerk. She didn't try it again… but she couldn't watch either… so Kagome just turned in Sango's arms and buried her head in the older girl's shoulder, grimacing as she tried to block out the sounds of the arena.

This 'sport' was just too gory for Kagome.

Inuyasha pried open his eyes long enough to look over at his two employees and his week-long visitor. He inwardly cursed when he realised she was probably crying. What the hell was she so upset about? She wasn't the one have her body strategically pulled apart by a human Beef Burger.

His shoulder popped almost inaudibly, a sound lost in the screaming stands around him. With a stab of panic he realised that if his opponent kept pulling he would lose his arm completely… it wasn't unheard of.

How many fans would be willing to drool after a one-armed man?

__

(AN: Wait… I just realised the irony related to Sess ¬_¬)

"I give!" Inuyasha choked out, finding it hard to speak with so much pressure on his back.

"What did you say?" the Peach Man rumbled.

"I said I give! You win! I lose!" Inuyasha spat. "You're champion – I'm not!"

The pressure let up off his back and his arm fell numbly back to his side, useless. The referee had overhead everything he'd said and the whistle was being blown. The commentators were off again with their wild banter while the crowd reacted with near aggressive animosity.

But more than that, Kagome looked relieved, which in his slightly subconscious opinion made up for hundreds of screaming angry fans any day.

__

This one's for you… he thought as he began fading into unconsciousness, _…bitch…_

~*~

The ride back from the hospital was a tense and silent atmosphere. After having spent most of the afternoon in the EU ward, everyone was a little unhappy and finding it hard to relax.

__

Four cracked vertebrae… Kagome thought absently as she rested her head against Sango's shoulder, thoroughly tired and more miserable than anyone else in the car. _A dislocated arm and broken in three different places…_

If it had been anyone else, the doctor had told them, Inuyasha would have been paralysed from the neck down for the rest of his life and might have just lost permanent use of his arm. But as it was, all they'd had to do was make him lie down with his back straight for a few hours and the problem had basically fixed itself. But all that damage to his body was superficial compared to the damage he seemed to have taken to his pride.

Inuyasha had barely said more than three words since he'd regained consciousness in the EU, which was unusual because of Kagome's experience so far with Inuyasha, when he was angry and/or injured he would spout off furiously to let everyone know. She hadn't forgotten the incident with the stubbed toe yet…

But here he was, keeping mostly to himself with only a faint frown on his face as he picked at the foam of the sling that pinned his arm across his chest. Kagome watched him out of the corner of her eye, knowing that he was deeply upset by what had happened… but once more he would probably rather take a bath in baked beans than he let on.

Not that anyone else was being very talkative, even Kagome herself.

Well at least Miroku was trying. "Well I think you did well to get past the first round." He said into the empty silence that shrouded the car. "I mean, that guy's had like thirty years of experience in the ring and you're still a newbie compared to that…"

"Gee thanks…" Inuyasha muttered sullenly.

Sango elbowed Miroku hard. "He didn't mean you're an amateur. Don't think that-"

"I hadn't thought that." Inuyasha said, narrowing his eyes at a passing tree, "I do _now_…"

He was stubbornly going to make everyone's attempts to cheer him up as unsuccessful as possible. 

"We'll just have to do better next year." Kikyo said in a way that put an end to the discussion. She shifted her hands against the steering wheel. "We were unlucky this time. If Kouga hadn't missed the rematch you probably would have glided straight to the championship without any hassle off of anyone."

"No." Inuyasha said bluntly, dropping his idle hand into his lap.

Kagome saw the way Kikyo gave him a sideways look through the rear-view mirror, but she didn't say anything more after that. Neither did anyone else.

~*~

"He's really upset about losing the championship, isn't he?" Kagome said quietly to Sango in the kitchens as they ate their supper. "I mean… he's actually _upset _not angry."

Sango nodded slightly as she chewed her sandwich thoughtfully. "He was like this last year… it'll blow over and he'll start working for those little deathmatches."

"Deathmatches?" Kagome echoed, frowning at her. 

"Oh… Deathmatches happen when the general public pick the contestants to pitch them against each other. Basically they choose the most entertaining pairs and have them fight it out, no actual championship… only token trophies every now and then." Sango informed her. "You wouldn't believe how many times Inuyasha's been pitched against Kouga in recent years. They all seem to like the irony of having two canines in the ring."

Kagome wrinkled her nose. "I don't like it… it's all too violent and contestants always seem to get beat to within an inch of their life."

"That's the idea!" Sango finished her sandwich, dusted off her hands and clapped Kagome on the shoulders. "Don't stay up too long, you need your sleep."

"Ok." Kagome waved as Sango left the kitchen.

She finished her own supper a few minutes later and headed off to bed. She pulled on her pyjamas and collapsed on top of the covers of her mattress and lay their thinking with her lips pursed. She tried to put herself in Inuyasha's shoes… trying to figure out how exactly he could be feeling right then.

The first thing that came to mind was; _ouch_. No way she would be able to withstand all the bodily damage he'd handled. But apart from that… he was probably feeling low. His ego was probably deflated and the wind had been knocked out of his sails.

It was probably harder being famous than Kagome realised…

Well, since sleep wasn't exactly coming to her any time soon, she had time to kill and energy to vent. She remember the piano downstairs and smiled to herself. She'd probably miss being able to get her hands on a grand piano when she went back home… so she had to make the most of it. So what she didn't get a full eight hours sleep because of it? She could handle that.

Kagome pottered out of her room and headed down the stairs silently towards the classic room. As usual the guard was fast asleep on his duty, a sight she was used to seeing and she passed him heedlessly, knowing she could probably smack the piano seat over his head and he'd never wake up. Actually… if she did smack a piano seat of his head he'd probably never wake up again. Period.

She slipped inside the classic room and shut the heavy door quietly behind her, making sure it was closed tightly so it wouldn't pop open and scare her like it had last time.

She sat down and instantly began playing, her mood coming through in the way she played without realising. It took her a few moments but she began to notice how heavy and rather deep the melody sounded. Without thinking she switched to a different tune and took it an octave lower, letting the music wash over her.

It was a painful and sad tune, not only did it sound mournful but she had already associated it with bad times in her life… times when she hadn't been as happy as she normally was.

Her hands slipped off the keys and into her laps. No good. She didn't want to play that tune, it only made her feel bad.

Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a big sigh she strained and mentally shook herself of the ominous feelings. She moved two octaves higher and began playing a bouncier tune. It made her smile for a while, but it wasn't long before the feeling slipped away and she was left feeling hollow…

She was forced to stop playing.

__

Damn… she thought bitterly, _Inuyasha's bad mood is beginning to rub off on me. It's not like **I** lost the match or anything, what have I got to be sad about?_

Kagome didn't want to play anymore, it only intensified the slightly miserable feeling inside her and so she shuffled off the stool and headed for the door. She slipped through the open doorway without realising that she'd closed it earlier.

In an effort to improve her mood she headed for the kitchens, wanting to grab a biscuit and a glass of milk to help her sleep.

She was slightly surprised to find Inuyasha had already nabbed the milk carton and was sitting on the kitchen island counter drinking from it. He glanced up when she entered through the swinging doors and raised a hand in greeting. "Good morning."

Kagome glanced at the blue clock above the cupboards. It was indeed past midnight by then…

"That's disgusting." She gave him a dirty look. "I bet you do that every night and let people drink out of it in the morning."

"Well I wouldn't want to hog all the milk to myself." He responded with a shrug. "I know you like it in your cereal, right?"

Kagome pulled a face and moved over to the fridge to get her own milk. "So what are you doing up." She glanced over at him and looked at the sling his right arm had been wrapped in. "Doctor said your orders were strict bed rest."

"What do doctors know?" he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I couldn't sleep."

"Me neither," she sighed as she selected a carton of milk that remained unopened so there was little to no chance of finding any Hanyou gob germs on it. She straightened and shut the fridge. Glancing over at Inuyasha she found him scraping a claw against the side of his cardboard carton, staring at it listlessly.

"Are you ok?" she ventured.

It was a reasonable enough question, but Inuyasha reacted badly to it. "What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped at her.

"Just a question!" she said defensively as she padded away around the island, looking for a glass for the milk. Without even looking at him she knew he'd spaced off again, but maybe it just wasn't her place to intrude upon his thoughts. She put those thoughts aside as she bent to select a clean glass from the shelves under the table top counter.

"I lost the sponsorship from Adidas."

Kagome straightened slowly to look over at Inuyasha, but he wasn't looking at her. Instead he was fixing most of his concentration on peeling off the label on the milk carton. "Because you lost the match?" she guessed quietly.

He nodded, still scowling at the milk. "Fifteen hundred million yen for getting to the semi-finals." He rattled off the numbers absently. "Three-thousand mill for completing the finals… but I didn't, so I don't get paid…"

Kagome looked at him hard. "But you still get fifteen hundred _million_ for getting to the semi-finals alone!" she told him. "That's not something to be sad about, is it?"

He continued picking at the carton as though he hadn't heard her. Eventually he lifted his head, but stared straight ahead without acknowledging her. "People have been asking me questions since I could talk. They always ask the same questions in the same way… and I know how to answer them all without hesitation. How do you feel about winning the championship? Great, I hope I can defend the title next year. How do you feel about losing the championship? Bummed, but I'll do better next year."

Was he talking to her or was he just having this conversation with his conscience. Kagome set her glass down on the counter and moved around the island till she was beside him.

He still didn't seem to notice her. "But then there's always that one question that crops up from time to time… and no matter how many times they ask it… I can't answer it."

Kagome titled her head slightly. "What is it?" she asked gently.

He sighed and his forehead furrowed as he turned his gaze back to his lap, and then turned his head to meet her eyes. "'What do you do?'" he looked away. "What do I do…? Where does the money come from? What is my purpose in life? How am I helping anyone? Yes… I fight… I sponsor… but what else? What happens if I can't even do those things?"

He was certainly taking this loss very hard. Kagome sympathetically placed her hand on his shoulder, struggling to understand his position. "You don't have to worry about those things, it's not like you have money problems-"

"No." he shrugged. "I have enough money saved up from my parents inheritance to last me through three life times. I could probably lie in bed for the rest of my life and eat coa coa puffs and never have to lift a finger and I'd still be rich."

At least he was trying to be modest here. Kagome tried to feel too resentful of his money, knowing that it was the source of a lot of the his ills. "It'll be ok. You can always try again next year…" she told him softly.

"It won't be ok." he gave her a slightly pained look. "It'll always be like this, it won't ever change. "I'll try again next year and then the next and sometimes I'll win and sometimes I'll lose. But it's meaningless… there's no point and no end and I can't…" he swallowed hard and looked away again. "And I can't get up tomorrow and face all their questions and say the exact same things that I said last time I lost and what I'll say next time I lose."

Kagome didn't like the way he was talking. He sounded like he was giving up. "What are you saying…?" she whispered.

"I'm saying…" he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I can't live this way… not anymore."

Now Kagome was having difficulty swallowing. "You sound like you're…" _planning to jump off the pier again_. But she couldn't say it aloud.

They both sat motionless for several moments. Kagome held her breath, hoping that there hadn't been any hidden implication behind those words. She'd never known anyone who had seriously considered suicide… but she didn't know what to expect of Inuyasha's slightly volatile nature.

Suddenly he shook his head and tossed the near-empty milk carton into the bin on the other side of the kitchen. He hopped down from the counter and started for the door. It seemed as though he was about to walk out when he suddenly seemed to remember she was there, and turned back to her. "You should go to bed. You didn't exactly have a good sleep last night."

She nodded vaguely and watched him walk out. 

There was a slight temptation inside her to tail him back to his room and sneak into his bed with him, and make sure that he didn't do anything stupid while he was alone. But in the end she decided to go to bed… and perhaps warn someone like Kikyo in the morning that Inuyasha wasn't probably feeling his most stable lately…

Yet she still struggled to comprehend his problem…

AN: Just to warn you, the truth about '92 is coming soon to a computer screen near you…


	21. If You Go Down to the Woods Today

****

Author's Notes: After some complaints that have apparently been made, I'd just like to clarify that Kanashi's story 'Temptation' is not a copy of this story, I've had a look at it myself and I can assure people that the story is completely different. Only the summary seems to resemble the summary for Dead Famous – so to those who flame Kanashi – back off!

Ah… I feel so empowered today ^_^

****

Dead Famous

Chapter 21

If You Go Down to the Woods Today…

"I don't think this is such a good idea." Kagome voiced her opinion.

Kikyo blinked in surprise and stopped fixing her hair the hallway mirror. She turned to fix Kagome with an incredulous look. "Excuse me?"

Sango and Miroku who were sitting on either side of Kagome at the base of the stairs both pointedly turned away and became unduly interested in the streaks of colour in the marble steps they sat on. Kagome glanced at them both before realising that she wasn't going to get any help off them now, so she turned back to Kikyo. "This whole interview thing that Inuyasha's supposed to go for today… I don't think he should do it."

Kikyo turned completely to face her. "And why not?"

Kagome squirmed under the scrutiny. "I just think it's too soon… Inuyasha seemed really upset that he lost, and maybe confronting everyone's questions in an interview so soon having losing isn't such a good-"

"Kagome," Kikyo interrupted with a brusque tone. "Inuyasha has been facing these questions his entire life. He's used to it. Besides, if he doesn't turn up to the interview it won't seem very sportsman like of him. In fact they'll all think he's bitter about losing-"

"Which he is." Kagome interjected. 

"But we can't let them think that." Kikyo cut her off firmly. "But what on earth makes you think Inuyasha wouldn't be able to cope today?"

__

Apart from the fact that he said he'd commit suicide if he had to answer any more questions? Ok, Kagome's memory of the conversation that had taken place the night before was a little distant. She'd been dwelling on it ever since, worrying about it in her mother-hen way and even her dreams had been invaded by her concern. She was almost certain now that he'd been implying he wanted to end his life. "Well…" She started off uneasily. "I talked to him last night… and it seemed, to me, that he didn't really want to go talk to the press today…"

"What he wants and what he _has _to do, are two completely different things." Kikyo frowned. "There's no argument, Kagome, he has to do this."

"But…" she winced slightly. "I think he _really _doesn't want to do this…"

"Really?" Kikyo folded her arms.

"Really, _really_, doesn't want to do this…"

Sango glanced at Kagome dubiously. "Is it him or you who doesn't want to go talk to the press."

"Look, I'm not making this up!" Kagome tried to convince them. "I talked to that guy last night and he was upset! I don't think we should go anywhere where there will be people to ask him questions – he's bordering on depression!"

"You're exaggerating." Miroku said, not unkindly.

"I'm telling you, I don't think Inuyasha is what you'd call… happy." She jabbed a finger in the direction of the top of the stairs. "You can bet your life's savings that he's not going to be coming down those stairs with a big grin on his face because I'm telling you that he's depressed!"

"Morning all!" The elevator door 'pinged' and out stepped a rather chirpy looking Inuyasha, brandishing a perfectly healed arm. "I've never seen the sky so blue, have you?"

Kagome gaped.

"About time you showed up." Kikyo called to him, beckoning him to follow as she headed for the front door. "We need to get going if we want to arrive before the rush."

"I know, I know," he yawned slightly but happily trailed out after her. Sango patted Kagome's arms and headed out after the pair with Miroku, leaving the school-girl on the steps, lost in her own dumbfounded world.

Then she got angry.

"How _dare _he…?!" she hissed under her breath and stomped out after the group, down the steps and to where the two awaiting limos sat. She caught Inuyasha by the sleeve, just as he was getting into the second vehicle. "What's the matter with you?"

He blinked at her, the epitome of innocence and confusion. "Nothing."

"Like hell." She ground out. The other three were too far away to hear what she said. "Last night you're moping around like you'd sold your soul to the devil and last week you were crying on my shoulder because you were tearing your room apart – don't tell me there's nothing wrong with you!"

Inuyasha hand whipped out and dragged her forward by the lapels until she was literally nose to nose with him. His expression was thunderous. "This is _not _the time to try my patience!" he said quietly in the most dangerous and deadly tone she'd heard so far. He let go of her blouse and pushed her back. "Now get in the limo with the others."

Kagome opened her mouth to tell him about how petty that was, when she noticed that the front limo was already pulling away from the curb. She gave him a hooded look. "Too late."

"Then you're staying here." He said shortly and ducked into the limo. He began pulling the door close behind him but Kagome quickly caught it before it slammed shut.

"No way, Kikyo said this will probably take all afternoon – I'm not hanging around this place for a whole afternoon with nothing to do and no one to talk to." She told him hotly.

"Do I care?" he cast an impatient look towards the driver's end of the limo. "Kagome, look, I'll make it up to you later, just don't come out this time."

"Do you hate me that much?" She narrowed her eyes.

He narrowed his eyes straight back. "I'm not stupid enough to answer that. Just… this time, you have to stay here."

"Why-"

"**Because**-" He quickly broke off and lowered his voice. "Because you won't be thanking me if you come out this time – you _have _to stay here. Trust me."

"I wouldn't trust you as far as I can throw you." She snapped back and barged her way in through the door.

"Kagome!" he hissed.

"Inuyasha!" she hissed back, taking her seat and shutting the door with a slam. "So we have to ride together – live with it!"

The limo was already moving off and Inuyasha tensed where he sat, looking anxiously from Kagome to the driver's cabin and then back. "Fine." He grumbled, but he didn't relax.

Kagome rolled her eyes at his behaviour. It was almost as if he was worried that she would go blabbing about all their little conversations to everyone… well, she had, but she hadn't gone into the important detail like the fact that he'd cried. That was still a secret between them. But maybe she'd been a little fast in assuming he was upset enough to consider suicide… perhaps it had just been a mood swing where he'd been feeling a little low. He seemed better today… less depressed and more angry at the world. It was probably for the better…

"I'm sorry I make your life so difficult." She said in a slightly bitter tone. "I don't understand you… you seem like you're bearing your soul one minute and then the next you act like nothing happened – you have a lid on your emotions as tight as a clam's shell."

She glanced up at him, but scowled in irritation to find him watching the driver's cab intently with his arms folded. He wasn't listening.

"Is staring at that glass divider that much more interesting than listening to me?" she asked dryly.

"Mm." He hummed, further proof that he was away with the fairies.

Kagome sighed and turned her attention out of the window, watching the world whiz by with that odd dark tint that came from the windows. By now she was learning the way into town off by heart, she could probably walk from the villa to town centre on her own with no help, and she'd only been in this district for a week and a bit.

Which was why she was faintly surprised when the limo took a sudden left at the traffic lights when she knew they should have gone straight on. As they peeled away from the main road Kagome watched the first limo head straight on along the route they normally took… so why were they going this way?

"Uh… Inuyasha?" she frowned slightly. "Are we taking a short cut?"

"Shh." He hushed her quietly, keeping his eyes trained on the floor between his feet. His arms were still folded but now his hand had crept to rest inside his jacket. He was frowning quite deeply.

Kagome was now completely confused. She didn't recognise the way they were going at all and she was almost certain that this wasn't the way to the news arena where the interview was supposed to take place. The shops that marked the town centre were being replaced by more suburban houses. Kagome could only watch with increasing puzzlement as even those houses were left behind to be replaced by more rural landscape.

"I think we're going the wrong way." Kagome whispered to Inuyasha after they'd been travelling this way for quite a while. "Maybe you should go ask them if-"

"Be quiet." He snapped back, eyes still averted to the floor.

The limo began slowing down as they entered a copse of trees. Large pines rose up on either side of the road with fields of agriculture surrounded them beyond the trees. Kagome glanced at Inuyasha, wondering why he wasn't so surprised by this… when the limo rolled to a stop she stood and stooped, heading for the driver's cabin. "Now I _know _this isn't the way to the news arena-"

Inuyasha grabbed her as she passed him and dragged her into the seat beside him. "Just sit down and do as I say."

Nothing was making sense, least of all Inuyasha. She glared at him accusingly. "What's going on here? Why have we stopped in the middle of nowhere – we must be like half an hour late by now!"

"Shh!" he dug his elbow into her side, making her squeak and shuffle away hastily. But not that she was quiet she heard arguing voices coming from the drivers compartment. She couldn't see who was in there because the glass divider was up… but she was sure that they usually only had _one _driver for the limo, but it sounded like there were at least two. She glanced over at Inuyasha. "What's going on?"

The limo swayed slightly as the two drivers got out, and as they did so, their words became that much clearer.

"Where have you taken us? We're way into the interstate here-!"

"Just get back in the car."

"We should have gone straight on at Junction forty-two."

"I said get back in the car."

Kagome tried squinting out of the window to see what was going on but the two drivers seemed to be standing in front of the bonnet, obscuring any view she might have. "I think they're lost." She jumped up and headed for the door.

"No, don't!" Inuyasha lunged after her, but his hands fell short and she was out of the vehicle before he could stop her.

"What's going on?" she asked, walking around to the front of the limo. The two drivers dress in their black suits turned to look at her. The one of the left seemed just as confused as she was, but the other looked just plain angry. "I think you guys missed your turn off back…"

She trailed off as the angry looking driver suddenly reached into his black jacket, as if about to pull something from the hidden pocket.

A scratched up and rather old looking gun.

The second driver had only a moment to register bleak shock as the weapon was turned on him and the trigger was pulled. Kagome flinched hard as the gun cracked off loudly, with a sound that seemed more like a loud pop than a bang. The driver crumpled to the ground without a sound, a messy hole in his chest with a an oozing red stain that was slowly spreading.

He was dead… there was no doubt about it.

Kagome couldn't tear her eyes off of him. She felt cold with shock and she felt detached from everything… her ears were ringing and her stomach was twisting with sickening butterflies. She couldn't even move as the first driver came for her. But his cold, hard grip of her arm was enough to snap her world back into focus, but by then it was too late.

"No – let go!" she yelped as he twisted her arm behind her back. She didn't dare struggle anymore when the hot barrel of the revolver was pushed into her mouth, clicking against her teeth. She could quite clearly smell the stench of sulphur with it this close.

No words could describe how utterly and absolutely terrified she was.

Something metal clicked behind them. "Let her go."

At once the driver – if he was a driver at all – turned sharply, bringing Kagome in front of him like a human shield. Now not only did she have a black revolver in her mouth but she now had a shiny silver handgun pointed her way by none other than Inuyasha.

She probably would have demanded an explanation if she didn't have the barrel of a loaded gun in her mouth. As it was she could only whimper slightly as the man behind her tightened his hold on her arm, twisting it painfully.

"If you so much as squeeze that trigger," the man hissed beside Kagome's ear. "I'll shoot her – I swear to god!"

Kagome tried to plead to Inuyasha with her eyes, trying to warn him not to do anything rash or stupid… because if was her life on the line. But he wasn't looking at her, instead his glare was trained on the man behind her… but the weapon in his hands wavered uncertainly, as if looking for an opening.

"Drop the gun!" the so-called-driver snapped.

"No!" Inuyasha snapped back, shifting his stance.

Was it Kagome, or did he look really uncomfortable holding that thing?

Kagome swallowed uneasily. "_In-g-sha_…" she tried to speak, but it only resulted in her being jostled angrily from behind. She closed her eyes and silently began chanting a prayer that no one pulled any triggers.

"I'll give you to the count of five." The man warned. "If you don't drop the gun by then I'll blow her brain out."

Kagome began hyperventilating. _Drop it Inuyasha… please don't test him…_

"One…"

Kagome didn't dare pry open her eyes. _Please…_

"Two…"

A clatter on the tarmac road caused Kagome's eyes to snap open. Inuyasha had dropped the gun, and was now ever so slowly raising his hands into the air. Kagome couldn't help but feel an enormous quivering wave of relief when the man pulled the gun from her mouth and turned it on Inuyasha instead… did that make her a bad person?

"Hands up where I can see them."

Inuyasha scowled slightly.

"Now kick the weapon to me." The driver gestured to the silver handgun with his own. "Try anything funny and she gets it." He turned the gun back to Kagome, pressing the cooling rim of the barrel to her temple. She swallowed with difficulty, once again looking to Inuyasha for help… but realising it was probably useless.

Inuyasha hesitated only a moment, glancing between her and the driver before he stepped forward and kicked it… **_hard_**.

The silver gun rocketed up from the ground, propelled by Inuyasha's foot, and hurtled towards the driver, hitting him square in the face… Kagome barely had time to flinch away to avoid being hit herself. But the tactic proved effective as the driver cried out in pain, loosening his grip on Kagome at the same moment. It gave her the chance to wrench herself away, collapsing against the side of the limo breathing hard… and give Inuyasha the opening he needed.

"Right…" the superstar said decisively as the driver furiously cradled his bruised brow. He seemed to suddenly realise he was being advanced upon and quickly tried to raise the black gun… but all too slow.

With one swift move Inuyasha snatched the weapon out of his hand and turned it on its owner, pushing the metal tip against his forehead.

The driver was at once a quivering wreck. "P-p-please… I-I'm begging you… ple-please…"

"P-p-please kill you?" Inuyasha parodied her stammer, before snorting derogatorily. "I should just shoot you right now."

The man only quivered and stammered even more incomprehensibly. Compared to him, Kagome felt quite proud of herself. But she eyed Inuyasha warily… certainly not trusting him with a dangerous projectile weapon. She slid her gaze slowly to the man lying sprawled on the road a few metres away… he still lay in the same position, but the blood stain had stopped spreading and he looked pale.

He was still dead.

Kagome felt cold as she turned a hard glare on his killer.

"You were the one who shot Kouga weren't you?" Inuyasha continued, crouching enough to pick up his own silver gun and straightened to press it up against the driver's chest. "I knew it had to be one of my drivers… no one else has access to the keys of the cars. So what were you planning to do this time? Kill me and the girl in the middle of nowhere and dump our bodies in that ditch over their?"

Kagome tried to calm her breathing, but it was hard… knowing that she'd come very close to ending her life this time.

The man wasn't providing any useful answers, only whispering something under his breath that sounded like a prayer.

"Who are you working for?" Inuyasha demanded, clicking back the safety catch on both guns, making the man flinch. "Tell me or I fill you with lead!"

He said that so vehemently that Kagome was slightly shocked. "Inuyasha…?" she breathed.

He glanced at her with a conflicted look, but didn't lessen his threatening behaviour towards the phoney driver. "Tell me!" he hissed. "Or you end up like your pal over there."

__

What a flippant way to talk about a poor dead man… Kagome found herself beginning to oppose Inuyasha's methods.

"J-Jinko… Jinko Aida." The man stuttered.

Inuyasha frowned. "Who's she?"

"J-J-Jinko…Ai-"

"Alright, alright!" Inuyasha snapped impatiently. "That's all I needed to know."

With one push he sent the man sprawling to the ground near Kagome's feet… and then levelled both pistols at him. Kagome saw what he was doing and panicked. "No! What are you doing?! You can't-"

She broke off with a scream as Inuyasha emptied the clips of both weapons. Deafening bangs engulfed Kagome who happened to be crouching so near… she could only throw her hands over her head and squeeze her eyes shut.

Eventually the shots stopped abruptly, with an echo of clicks from the empty guns. Inuyasha clicked his tongue with irritation in the frigid silence that followed and cast both weapons aside as if they were trivial rubbish.

__

He killed him… he really did it… Kagome trembled where she was crouched near the wheel of the limo, unable to bring herself to look up. For the first time she was scared of him. _He's no better than the man he just-_

"Y-You're crazy!"

That scream had not come from Inuyasha.

Kagome jolted her head up and stared in wide shock at the driver who trembled even more wretchedly than her… and with good reason. White chips in the tarmac around him marked where each bullet had hit the road… he'd been toyed with.

"Get up." Inuyasha said with a great deal of disgust. He grabbed the man by the arm and dragged him up and to the limo. He opened one of the back doors and shoved him inside. Once the door was shut he went to the drivers compartment and took the keys out of the ignition, locking the vehicle securely. 

The killer was going no where.

Kagome continued to gather her rattled nerves on the ground, images of what had just happened flashed before her eyes. She'd just watched someone being killed…

Inuyasha crouched beside her… he looked troubled. "Are you ok?"

She struggled to find words as her thoughts flashed up images of him kicking the gun at the driver. "If you'd missed… I'd be dead."

"I did miss." Inuyasha said grimly. "I was aiming for his balls."

"Oh…" Kagome nodded slowly before looking over at the dead driver… he hadn't been in on the deal with the other guy apparently… he was an innocent.

"I better call the police." Inuyasha said as he straightened and pulled out a phone from his pocket. Kagome tuned him out as she crept slowly towards the dead man, staring into his face and those glassy, lifeless eyes.

She didn't even know him but she felt overwhelmed with guilt and sorrow… perhaps if she hadn't leapt out of the car so soon he wouldn't have been killed. But she knew that was unlikely… that killer probably would have shot him anyway…

Inuyasha filled in the police behind her. "…yeah, he's locked in our vehicle… a mile into the interstate between Hoka-shi and Kussa-shi… near the coast…"

Kagome knelt beside the dead driver and cautiously reached out to brush the backs of her fingers against his cheek. He wasn't quite cold yet… but not warm either.

Did he have a family? A wife? Children…? His life had just been snatched away so quickly… it had just been so easy to take. Kagome felt awful about this as she moved her hand up and gently closed those lifeless eyes. But couldn't she do something more than just close her eyes.

"Kagome, don't touch it." Inuyasha called over sharply as he snapped his phone shut and slipped it back into his pocket.

Kagome hardened at his choice of words. "'It'?" she echoed. "_It _is a human being – your driver! How can you just call him and 'it'?!"

"_He… _is dead." Inuyasha said, with barely even a drop of remorse in his voice. "It's too late to start getting attached to him."

She gave him an insulted glare. "You're pathetic… you know, I thought you were callous to take your fans for granted – but to take your employees who give their _life _for you for granted is a whole different story! You're truly the most jerkish… _jerk _in the world!" she turned her furious gaze back on the dead man, clenching her fingers in the cloth of his sleeve as if perhaps she could coax a little life back into him.

She heard him sigh behind her. Then slowly he crouched down next to her and began shrugging out of his jacket. She watched him apprehensively as he reached out to drape the denim coat over the man's head and upper body, blocking the bullet wound from view and the paleness of his complexion.

Perhaps she was a little grateful…

"Come on," he gently tugged on her elbow as he began to stand. "Let's go sit over there." He gestured to the grassy road verge a short distance away.

She nodded numbly and allowed him to pull her up and over towards the roadside. In fact he actually managed to walk her further than he'd originally pointed out… until they sat down on the grass quite a good distance from the limo with the killer locked inside and his victim lying beside it.

"I've never seen a dead man before." She said quietly, looking at the ground flatly. "I've never seen someone killed…"

"There's always a first time for everything." Inuyasha said somewhat callously.

For the first time she noticed how callous he'd been about the whole thing. Someone who knew him less well would have thought he was cold and detached to seeing people killed… but Kagome had a feeling that he was on edge right then. She'd never seen someone more unsettled than Inuyasha at that moment.

But she also had the feeling that this wasn't the first time he'd seen someone die… Was this stirring unpleasant memories for him?

"What were you doing with a gun?" she asked bluntly, picking at the grass blades beside her.

He took his time before answering. "I saw them arguing from the upstairs window this morning… the drivers… I saw one get into the car and then saw the other loading a gun before he got into the driver's seat. I figured that he was the mysterious gunman from before, and that he was planning something for this ride…"

"Is that why you wanted me to stay behind?" she asked, thoroughly wishing that she'd heeded his warning.

He nodded. "I came prepared to scare him… you'd be surprised how many people underestimate me and my own skills… they think that when I fight in a ring it's just special effects and that I can't really hurt anyone outside of the arena…"

Kagome nodded slightly, still perturbed that he'd even carried a gun with him in the first place.

"Are y-you ok?"

Kagome glanced at him sharply, detecting the unmistakable waver in his voice. His expression was calm… but she could see that the hand that rested lightly on his knee was shaking ever so slightly. She carefully shook her head in answer to his question. "Are you?"

He stared at her a long time before he shook his head as well, then quickly averted his gaze into the trees across the road.

Kagome sat silently for a while, contemplating the events so far, when suddenly Inuyasha's phone rang again… from the pocket of the denim jacket that was draped over the dead driver. They stared after it a moment before Inuyasha sucked in a breath. "It's probably Kikyo wondering why we haven't arrived…"

He was in no state to deal with her. "Leave it then." She said quietly. Ignoring his look of surprise, she shifted closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. "I was so scared…" she whispered as if that excused her wanting to get close.

He slowly pulled an arm around her shoulder and she relaxed against him more fully, closing her eyes as she allowed herself to feel safe. She didn't, of course, add that it was Inuyasha she had been scared of…

But of course all that happened when she closed her eyes was seeing the driver being shot… over and over again as if her mind was stuck on replay.

It was an image that she would probably take to her grave…

AN: Ok… 92 seems to be coming a bit late.


	22. News Report

**Author's Notes: **Dead famous and all other fics by Torenza are © Copyright 2003. Steal any and I'll gut you like a fish. Seriously. It's happened four times now and I get dangerously mad each time. And don't try and pick arguments me, in a battle of wits you would be completely unarmed (that's if you're retarded enough to steal the story).

On a happier note: Merry Christmas! I know I'm late and I was going to post this on Christmas day but . computer did a major crash and I had to reformat the whole operating system. Fortunately my personal files were still safe, but I lost all my programs and a lot of my music (nooooo…!)

But on another note, we have the puppy… and dear god is it insane. Breeder let it bite people, so now it bites ¬_¬ It doesn't hurt but it's not something we want it to be doing when it grows into a horse with fangs. Other than that it's a sweetheart ^_^ Obedience classes here we come!

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 22**

**News Report**

"Shortly after failing to turn up to a press interview this morning, the limousine transporting the star Inuyasha to the conference was hijacked and held up on Hoka interstate. Inuyasha's short-term guest, Kagome Higurashi, was allegedly held at gun point and the original driver was killed from a gunshot wound to the chest. Police have disclosed little information at this point but have stated that they are speculating the motive for the attack was an angry rebuke for yesterday's boxing match loss."

"Your mother's on the phone."

Kagome jerked her gaze away from the television set in the detective's office to where Kikyo was stood in the doorway with a phone in her outstretched hand. For a moment the school girl regarded the device warily… she could almost hear what her mother was going to say the moment she said 'hello'. With a soft sigh she stood and retrieved the phone and waited for Kikyo to leave so she could be alone to hear the motherly rant.

Cautiously she sat back down and raised the phone to her ear. "Hello-"

"Come home." Was the barked order in response.

"But I'm ok, Mom, I'm at the police sta-"

"Yuka's mother rung me up this afternoon telling me that she'd heard my own daughter had been held up at gun-point on the news!" Mrs Higurashi sounded unsteady. "You were that close to being killed Kagome! – I don't care if it's ok now, I just want you home safe and sound with all body parts intact! What the heck's been going on down there?"

"Mom – it's ok!" Kagome tried to placate her. She herself was feeling a great deal calmer than before. It was strange – what had happened on that quiet country road seemed more of a vague, distant memory… despite the fact that it had happened only a few hours ago. "Everything's fine. We're all ok-"

"Didn't somebody die?" he mother asked cautiously.

"Well… yes, the driver. But they got the man who did it and he's being interrogated right now." Kagome watched the muted news program with the police man swarming all over the empty road like ants on an ant hill. Every now and then she caught a glimpse of the white chalk outline on the tarmac. She turned her eyes to the floor. "Anyway, they assured me that this doesn't happen very often… in fact it's never happened before. Besides, Kikyo's topped up security tenfold – I'm probably the safest person in the world right now."

"That may be true but perhaps it's best you come home." Mrs Higurashi insisted gently. "You wouldn't have been in danger in the first place if you were back here at the shrine instead of out with a superstar."

"But everything's ok now." Kagome told her. "The lunatic is being held by the police so we're safe now." She wasn't going to tell her mother that the guy seemed to be working for someone else… that would only cause her more worry. "Can't I stay till Sunday? I promise I'll come home on Monday and never set foot in a limo again."

"Well…"

"Please Mama, I want to stay." Kagome pleaded.

"Are you sure?" Her mother asked gently.

Someone in the corridor outside knocked on the window beside the office door. She glanced up blankly to find Inuyasha plastered against the glass, pulling a face at her. She just stared at him flatly, wondering how she was supposed to answer that last question…

"So no one know who Jinko Aida is." Miroku said as he pulled the car up in front of the villa. "Well that bites."

Kikyo glanced into the back seat where Inuyasha, Kagome and Sango were squashed up on the three seats respectively with Kagome squished in the middle. "How come I always have to sit in the middle on these trips?" Kagome voiced her complaint.

"Because you're the smallest." Inuyasha told her bluntly, trying to open the door, but it seemed jammed. "And you always fall over when we turn corners so you need mine and Sango's support."

"I don't need anyone's support." Kagome said derisively as she shoved against him to make room for her lungs to breathe. "I come from a long line of independent women."

"You come from a long line of complainers more like." Inuyasha snapped back. "Why won't this door open?"

"Because it's locked, you hypocrite." Sango said from Kagome's other side. He whirled on her dangerously, pushing Kagome back against the seat so he could glare at her directly. "Do you _want_ to be working in MacDonalds?" Sango just rolled her eyes at him.

Kagome, however, was glaring at the hand against her chest, pinning her to the seat behind her. "Do you mind?" she gave Inuyasha a warning glower.

"Mind what?" he obviously wasn't noticing the placement of his hand. Kagome decided he had noticed but was just playing dumb, so she rather viciously pinched the back of his hand and twisted roughly.

**"OW!"**

**"That'll teach you for groping me, pervert!"**

"Kids…" Miroku cautioned like a parent from the front. He switched off the engine lazily and unlocked the doors, allowing the kiddies in the back to scramble out hastily. Kagome just gave Inuyasha one last huffy shove before marching up the steps and disappearing into the villa. Sango followed after her with a nasty look in Inuyasha's direction.

"May I ask… what the hell did I do to deserve that?" Inuyasha asked dryly as he leant back against the side of the car.

"As if we need to tell you." Kikyo responded pointedly. She folded her arms primly and glanced over her shoulder briefly to check they were alone before turning back to look between Inuyasha and Miroku. "So… did the police ask where you got the gun from?"

"You know they did." Inuyasha snapped, giving her a dirty look. "I told them what I told them last time."

"That is was the killer's?" Kikyo guessed.

Inuyasha nodded.

"Well," Miroku sighed. "He's already been convicted or murder and carrying one gun without a license… who's going to believe him if he denies he had a second gun?"

"And what about Jinko Aida?" Kikyo directed this question at Inuyasha with a penetrating gaze. "Did you tell the police about her?"

Inuyasha shifted uncomfortably against the car. "No. I didn't think it would get us anywhere anyway." He said sullenly. "And that's one name I don't need hearing round about now…"

"I don't like it." Kikyo said bluntly. "She's reared her head again after so long… she must be up to something-"

"Yeah – she's trying to kill me!" Inuyasha snapped angrily. "She put a bomb in my room to try and blow me up and then she sent one of her hitman to do Kouga in so I would get blamed for his murder and when that failed she sent the same man after me in the limo this morning!"

Kikyo regarded him coolly. "We don't know that for sure. It could have all been separate incidents. For all we know Aida has only sent the hitman after you today…"

Miroku cleared his throat to get their attention. "Maybe we should double security anyway? Attempted murder isn't something to be taken lightly – and before you say it Inuyasha – I know that you're a Hanyou but one bullet between the eyes and you'll be as dead as the rest of us."

"Feel free to triple security in that case." Inuyasha told Kikyo sweetly.

She just waved her hand knowingly and headed towards the entrance. "Get onto it Miroku and get Sango to help."

"What about Kagome?" Inuyasha called as she departed.

Kikyo turned to look back at him quizzically. "What about her?"

He opened his mouth to respond but slowly shut it again when he failed to come up with anything to say. Instead he just shrugged and averted his gaze to the gravel at his feet. Kikyo stared unblinkingly at him for a moment before gesturing to Miroku to follow her inside, leaving Inuyasha standing by the car alone.

He just glowered and kicked the stones moodily. "Why do all the bad things happen to me?"

"Why do all these bad things happen to me?" Kagome muttered miserably as she collapsed on top of her bed.

She was tired, she was miserable and she had never been so on edge in her life. Of course, she'd never been held to gun-point in her life either, so feeling wound up was perfectly justified. Blatant questions kept running through her mind… and she wondered how on earth it was possible to take someone else's life and not feel remorse for it? That phoney driver certainly hadn't been sorry when he'd killed the driver… but he hadn't hesitated at turning into a stuttering coward when the gun had been turned on him instead.

Not for the first time she wondered who Inuyasha had pissed off enough this time to warrant such an assault. This Jinko Aida was behind it all apparently, but no one, not even the police, knew who she was. Probably some ex-girlfriend of Inuyasha's who had some powerful friends…

Was she behind the bedroom bomb? Kouga's attempted murder?

1992?

Kagome fidgeted uneasily as her mind went blank and she just didn't know what to think anymore. Perhaps some television would take her mind off things?

She made sure she closed the curtains against the dimming sky outside and undressed for bed before grabbing the remote control to switch the telly on.

Surprise, surprise, another news report on the limo incident was on again. Kagome had already heard everything there was to hear and quickly switched channels again. The next few channels were full of advertising, not surprising since it had only just turned nine o'clock and the ad breaks were always on in-between the programs. So she just kept flicking till she found something that was on and worth watching.

She stopped on one program in particular…

It was one of those celebrity watching programs that her friends had always tuned in to watch. All Kagome found it to be was slightly intrusive, assuming and just like a gossip magazine on your Tv screen instead of your doctor's waiting room coffee table. Besides, all the people being interviewed about the celebrities were the magazine editors because, as everyone knows, these people know _so_ much about the stars.

_"Dating Inuyasha was like… wow, I guess."_ An airy blond on screen said as she twirled a lock of improbable yellow around her finger. The caption read her as Eiko – Ex-girlfriend. _"We met at a party, he just basically picked me up and took me into the bathroom where we must have made out for like, hours-"_

"Ah." Kagome rolled her eyes.

_"-And I know it only lasted a week, but we had fun." _The girl nodded happily, but she was close to tears. _"Yep! Fun, fun, fun!"_

"Oh that's pathetic…" Kagome really pitied her and was vaguely glad when they switched to another interviewee.

Angelique Spagni. Oh joy…

_"We dated for a few weeks."_ The super-model blabbered on in French while the subtitles whizzed by underneath_. "But then…!"_ she began weeping in big French sobs while being labelled by the subs as 'Most recent ex'. _"But then he cheated on me – with a man! He told me that our love affair was only the product of a bet – that he was really in love with his valet, some guy named Miroku."_

Kagome stared at the girl stonily. "He can't speak French – he didn't tell you anything you wet mop-head!" And even if he could speak French all he would have said would have been compliments on her cleavage. Half of that sobbing speech was made up – the rest was Kagome's concoction.

Thankfully another interviewee came on before Kagome could get too riled.

_"Oh I've known Inuyasha since he was a child, through connections with his mother, of course."_ This new woman worked for 'Sure!' magazine. She looked a bit severe so Kagome reckoned she was a reporter. _"She liked to give exclusive interviews for 'Sure' before she passed on. There were many times that when I arrived in their residence when all you could hear when you walked through the door was this loud screaming. The first time I heard it I thought someone was murdering a child – but it was just Inuyasha. That boy used to just sit on the stairs and scream all day – god only knew why. It drove his mother spare because there was just no way to shut him up, and his father was never home to lend a hand – whenever I was there he was always at work. That child severely lacked a father figure – he was surrounded by women day and night and his mother wouldn't send him to a normal school to make normal friends. His parents had him shut up in that villa since the day he was born."_

Kagome hugged a pillow under her chin as she stared at the Tv. How was it that she was learning more about Inuyasha's childhood from a Tv special than from the actual guy himself? Not to mention the fact that millions of people were probably learning exactly the same thing as her right then.

The disembodied female narration took over as movie clips came up, clips of a little boy with scruffy white hair and triangular ears being dragged along a sidewalk by an impossibly beautiful woman of similar design. There was no doubt in Kagome's mind that the woman was Inuyasha's infamous model mother. But in the clip they were both surrounded completely by press with flashing cameras and microphones… both looked very hassled, and it seemed a real struggle to walk in a straight line down the pavement with so many people barging in front of them shouting trivial questions such as 'Where are you going?'.

Kaede suddenly came up on screen, nearly making Kagome jump in surprise. _"Inuyasha was…"_ she gave a lengthy pause. _"… not what I'd call an out of control child. He was naughty and loud – but what little boy isn't?" _Yeah, Kagome could relate with Souta. "_Sometimes I used to think my brother was too soft on the child, letting him get away with too much too early on in life. He'd scream the house down if he didn't get his own way and it got to a point where my sister in law was too scared to take him out of the house in fear that he'd pull a tantrum in public."_ Again, one of those lengthy pauses stretched that brought a frown to Kagome's face as she watched the old woman on screen. _"He straightened out surprisingly quickly when they began teaching him that ghastly boxing sport. He's been an… an angel ever since."_

"Don't force yourself, Kaede." Kagome noted the way Kaede's mouth twisted as if a bitter taste touched her tongue as she said 'angel'.

A new clip showed, depicting a more recent event as if to disprove the point Kaede had just put across. Some kind of quick interview with the man of the hour after some kind of awards show. _"Well, some days I'm happy to have even been nominated if I lose."_ Inuyasha said, passing one said award between his hands in a nonchalant, bored way. _"But some days I feel like –**beep**- so when I lose the award on those days I go ape –**beep**- at anyone who talks to me afterwards."_

There was nervous laughter behind the camera.

_"Don't laugh."_ Inuyasha said seriously. _"I felt like –**beep**- today, you're lucky I won the award pal."_

No more nervous laughter behind the camera. Kagome felt the corner of her mouth twitch up as she tried to suppress a smile. That was just typical of Inuyasha…

"_It was the year before he began training in that savage boxing technique."_ The 'Sure!' reporter was back and looking more contemplative than ever. _"Every year since his birth the press followed that boy and his mother wherever they went. American press was wild with gossip for those first three years, and when the family moved back here the Japanese press started where the US had left off. Every shopping trip to the supermarket to buy groceries was documented. Whenever his mother left the house to put the bins out there was always at least one photographer hiding in the bushes watching her."_

Kagome had always found the idea of watching someone putting out their bins a little perverse, no matter how famous they were.

_"But in 1992 Inuyasha just disappeared off the face of the earth."_

Kagome sat up abruptly, her attention focused solely on the Television screen.

_"All of a sudden no one could find him."_ The Sure woman went on. _"The boy couldn't be found, his parents weren't taking him anywhere like they used to and when asked in interviews where their son was there would always be a 'no comment'. Next thing we know it's new years and we hear, out of the blue, that Inuyasha is training in martial arts at the tender age of seven."_

Slowly the cogs in Kagome's head were beginning to turn… but still not fast enough to really grasp the truth of 92.

_"There was one young reporter, going by the name of Kikyo, who happened to get too close to the family,"_ The reporter went on, looking up as if remembering half-forgotten details. _"I remember talking to her one day and she said that there was something funny about the disappearance of our teenage male icon in 1992. The last thing I knew of her was that she was taking on research into that year on her own… she never came back with anything productive. In fact she never came back. As I seem to recall, she's now working as Inuyasha's agent."_

Kikyo? One piece of the puzzle slotted into place… but Kagome still didn't see the whole picture.

But at this point the Tv special turned its focus to Joi Ito and suddenly everyone was talking about the musician. Maybe Kagome would have normally stayed to watch the program on her favourite singer, but she was too hyped up on that little titbit of information on Kikyo and 1992. She had a feeling that if the producers of the program knew exactly what had happened in 92 then perhaps the whole show would be dedicated to that year and Inuyasha.

But Kikyo had obviously stumbled on the truth here… and either she had been paid to shut her mouth with a job offer of a life time… or something else had compelled her to shun her reporting instincts and keep the secret within the villa.

"Great, how am I supposed to sleep now?" Kagome asked herself as she switched off the Tv and flopped backwards onto the bed. Her mind was now racing with questions about Kikyo and _that _particular year…

The kill she'd witnessed that morning was temporarily chased from her mind.

With a sigh she rolled back to her feet and padded over to the window to let some cool air into the close bedroom. But the minute she propped open the balcony door a movement down below caught her eye. Glancing down into the darkness sharply she saw the movement again and quickly ran to lean over the balcony rail to see properly. The murder from that morning came back with perfect clarity and her heart began thundering in her chest. She was just short of shying away from the edge in fear.

But when she caught sight of the movement again, she was calmed somewhat. It was just one of the guards surveying the perimeter of the house. He was dressed completely in black bullet proof everything with a rifle rested loosely in one arm while the other was employed in keeping a large German Shepherd to heel. Kagome relaxed slightly, scolding herself for being so easy to scare, but that didn't stop her from noticing the second guard in similar attire a few metres behind the first. Or the third guard… or the fourth and fifth.

In fact, there were quite a few guards. Kagome cocked her head as she counted the men skulking around the pool, keeping close to the bushes and the walls of the building. Why had security been tripled? Quadrupled even?

"Hmm…" she hummed to herself as she headed back into her room, wondering at the oddity. Perhaps Kikyo had stepped up security due to that morning's events. Actually, she would have been surprised if Kikyo hadn't done anything at all…

Kagome sat down on the edge of the bed for a moment before running a hand over her face. She needed to unwind somehow… she thought about the piano but eventually decided against it. She was in no mood to make music. Any note she played would be bitter and miserable… she felt enough of those two emotions without needing to hear it in her music.

So she decided on a bath. One with lots of bubbles and scented salts. Kagome sighed with a slight smile as she headed into the bathroom to start running the water… but it was slow, so she reckoned she could just about run down to the kitchen and grab an orange or something to keep her stomach going while she soaked in the tub.

Leaving the water running at an slow stream so it wouldn't flood if she was delayed slightly, she quickly scurried off out of her room and down the stairs. Somehow running down the steps seemed faster than taking the elevator in this instance. By now she could probably find the kitchen blindfolded so she had little trouble locating it in under a minute.

She skidded through the doors, knowing that there was little chance of anyone being up for a snack at that hour… which was why the guy standing by the oven with the knife scared her spitless. "Ahh!"

Inuyasha flinched hard at her short scream and dropped the knife back onto the chopping board. "Bitch! What are you playing at?"

"Oh…" Kagome held a hand to her chest, once again cursing her frazzled nerves. "It's just you… I thought you were going to kill me!"

"But you ran in on me!" Inuyasha snapped back, picking up the knife again with a scowl as he went back to his little project on the chopping board. "You shouldn't be so damn sensitive, Kagome."

"That's rich." She gave him a critical look as she moved forward to lean against the counter. "Says the guy who was shaking like a leaf when he aimed a little pistol at an evil man."

Inuyasha just snorted, as if not believing her statement. He was probably just trying to avoid being cornered by his momentary weakness back on that roadside. Kagome knew that lately he'd been trying to stop giving her any openings to leap into and drag out the real Inuyasha.

"What are you doing?" she asked, swiftly changing the subject.

That brought a grin from him. "I'm boning a haddock."

Now that… had sounded like something else entirely. She just had to make sure… "You're doing _what _to a haddock?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Boning!" he replied cheerfully. "I like fish-"

"That much, huh?"

"Let me finished." He held up the knife and pointed to the half de-boned fillet on the chopping board. "Cook never lets me touch the stuff in the fridge during daylight hours, so I have to do it under cover of darkness."

"Dare I ask why you are cooking a fish at half past nine on a Wednesday night?" she raised an eyebrow at him and sat down on a stool near the counter where he boned…

"Hungry," he answered with a shrug. "I like fish and-"

"You just watched a cooking program didn't you." She realised, remembering one of the stations she'd flicked past before she'd found that little documentary on the celebrities.

"Well it was either that or watch a bunch of people I barely know slander me because they're jealous." He retorted. "Angelique Spagni has just blabbed to the world that I'm gay… first time I ever understood what the hell she was saying."

Kagome bit her lip. "Maybe she heard you got shot in a gay bar."

"NEAR a gay bar." He automatically corrected.

She cocked her head slightly. "So you watched the program?"

"Mm… I don't normally. There was just nothing else on." He shrugged. She was just opening her mouth to follow up on that when he cut her off. "And before you ask, it doesn't bother me. People have been talking about me all my life, behind my back and in front of my face like I'm not there. It doesn't bother me as much as you'd think."

"It would bother me." Kagome confessed, thankful that she probably wasn't well known enough to get gossiped about. "If people were saying that I was gay behind my back… I probably wouldn't like it." Of course, this instantly reminded her of cheerful little Seiko at that fateful party. "Although… perhaps it wouldn't be unjust to say that…"

"What?" His ears snapped up, alert. The haddock was momentarily forgotten as he stared intently at her. "Why do you say that?"

"Well…" she shifted idly on the seat. "Remember that party that you took me to? Well… that girl who 'greeted' you in that 'friendly' manner, did exactly the same thing to me."

His mouth dropped open, and it was a moment before it could talk again. "You're saying Seiko _kissed _you?"

Kagome nodded. It didn't really bother her that much… but it really was one of the only memories she had of that night. "Yeah. Full on the lips the moment you left."

"Oh man!" he whined, raising his hands to his head. "I _missed_ it!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "What is so appealing of seeing two girls kiss? It's not that big a deal."

He shrugged, though he looked misty eyed and distant all of a sudden. "Two girls making out is so much hotter than watching any other kind of couple."

Kagome stared at him. "I don't know…" she said with mock nonchalance. "I wouldn't mind watching you make out with a guy for once… and…"

She trailed off as his misty-eyed look transformed into something else entirely. He switched his attention firmly on the haddock on the chopping board. Kagome frowned. "What's going on with your face-"

"Nothing." He said quickly. _Too _quickly.

So perhaps the incident of '92 was deluding her… but she knew what was staring her in the face right then. A slow smile spread across her face as watched him bone the haddock(¬_¬;;). "So…" she leaned forward, resting her chin in the palm of her head. "What was his name?"

He made a weak, defeated noise in the back of his throat as he dropped the knife again and looked heavenward as if in a silent prayer for mercy. "You know that time I got shot _near _a gay bar…?"

"Possibly." Oh, this was sweet, delicious torture. Her smile only got wider.

"Well… I wasn't just passing by… I was actually in there for most of the night before I came out and got shot."

Kagome's eyes widened. "What the hell were you-?"

"I didn't know!" he snapped loudly, making her snort with a poorly suppressed laugh. "I thought it was an ordinary bar – the drag queens looked really authentic!"

"Oh Inuyasha…" _Don't laugh, Kagome, don't laugh…_

"And there was this one chick." He said miserably. "She had legs to die for and a really pretty face… so we went behind the club into an alley to get down to it-"

"You don't have to go into detail here-"

"Everything _seemed _real enough!" he said defensively. "But then when I put my hand under her skirt… I felt something in my hand."

Kagome didn't give a toss to her earlier thoughts as she gave into the laughter. She couldn't stop laughing either – even when she saw Inuyasha's disgruntled expression, it only added to her mirth and soon she was clutching her stomach as she fought to breath and laugh at the same time. Inuyasha watched her in a disgruntled manner, fingering his knife lovingly.

"Y-You kissed…" she gasped between laughing. "A drag queen!"

"It's not _that _funny!" he snapped.

"Yes it is!" she chuckled. "You should see your face right now!"

"You're not to talk to anyone about this." He told her sternly. "If anyone finds out I made-out with a drag queen then I'll be the joke of Japan."

"Don't worry, don't worry." She patted his tensed arm. "I won't tell anyone about our little secret."

"If you do I'll sue you for all your worth." He said airily, but Kagome had no doubt that he would hold her to that threat if she broke her promise. She watched him casually for a moment before speaking something that had been on her mind since that morning. "Thanks for saving me…"

He rolled his eyes. "What was I supposed to do? Let him continue threatening you? It's not like it was out of my way – and it was in my interests too to stop him – I mean, once he'd killed you he would only turn the gun on me and do the same-"

"Just stop." Kagome touched his arm lightly. "Just accept my thanks and don't argue about it."

"But-"

"Inuyasha!" she gave him a shove and turned away, snatching her glass up off the counter as she headed for the door. "Thank you. Let's just leave it at that."

"Yes ma'am." Inuyasha saluted her as she walked out of the kitchen.

Right… back to boning the haddock.

"So what's happening?" Sango yawned as she entered the security room.

Miroku copied the yawn and pointed vaguely at the screens. "It's very quiet." He shrugged. "Inuyasha's doing that thing in the kitchen again and everyone else has gone to bed."

"Oh good… then maybe we can go soon?" Sango rubbed her face tiredly. "I'm knackered…"

"_You're _knackered?" Miroku squinted at her. "You weren't the one who had to convince the press that Inuyasha didn't shoot anyone today…"

"Mm." Sango just grunted her consolation and sat down at the desk beside him. They sat for the next few minutes in silence, idly watching the surveillance monitors. Eventually Sango yawned again. "I'm tired."

"I know. You have to…" Miroku broke off, staring intently at one of the pool monitors. "What was that?"

Sango quickly followed his gaze, full of alertness. Whatever Miroku had seen… it was gone. "Maybe it was one of the guards?"

"Didn't look like a guard to me."

They watched carefully for a moment, Miroku even radioed one of the guards to check out what he might have seen. They saw the informed guard on the screen turn and head in the direction of the pool.

Then the power cut and they were plunged into darkness. The monitors crackled and flicked off, leaving Sango and Miroku with nothing but a few small specks of light on each screen.

"Shit." Miroku staggered to his feet, already putting his hand to his earpiece. "Kikyo – the power's gone!"

"I know." Came the muffled response. "Find Inuyasha."

"The kitchens." Miroku said shortly to Sango.

They both abandoned the security room in favour of finding the kitchens and Inuyasha, hopefully to come to his aid if needed. To their relief they met him half way. "Something's happening." Sango informed the fairly perplexed star as the met in the foyer. "You have to stay with us and-"

"I heard something upstairs." Inuyasha interrupted carelessly, already moving in the direction of the stairs.

"Inuyasha!" Miroku yelled after him. But with Inuyasha's supernatural speed, they were hard-pressed to follow him at a good enough pace. As the Hanyou disappeared up the stairs Miroku could only beckon for Sango to follow him as he raced after him.

They seemed to be heading for the second floor, down the same corridor of rooms where both Inuyasha and Kagome stayed. They turned the corner in time to see Inuyasha throwing his weight against Kagome's door.

"What's going on?" Miroku jogged forward, but slowed as his footsteps became wet slaps. Looking down he noticed the floor was completely soaked.

"Was there a flood?" Sango panted as she caught up and noticed the state of the wet carpet. It seemed to be emanating from under the door Inuyasha was trying to break down.

"Kagome?" Inuyasha yelled as he threw his weight one last time. There was a solid crack of wood and the door jerked open grudgingly. Inuyasha wasted no time diving into the room as Miroku and Sango followed slightly more hesitantly, still wondering at all the water on the floor.

The Hanyou made a straight path towards the open bathroom door, sending water flying with each running step. He stopped dead in the doorway.

Miroku came up behind him and looked into the bathroom over Inuyasha's shoulder, mounting panic and confusion already gripping him. "Where is she?"

The taps of the bath were still running into a bath full to the brim, a steady stream of water spilled over the edges onto the lino floor, flooding the entire bathroom. Kagome wasn't in there. Inuyasha took only a moment to survey the damage before turned to look sharply at the window. "She's not here…" he murmured softly, shoving past Miroku as he started for the balcony.

The light drapes swayed gently in the breeze with the balcony door open.

"Oh god…" Sango covered her mouth as she realised what had happened.

Miroku was too shocked to manage more than running his hand through his hair.

Inuyasha took a moment to glance around the empty balcony before looking back at Miroku and Sango. He issued one last order. "Get the power back!" and before they could even both protesting, he jumped over the side of the balcony and fell the two stories to the paved ground below.

He didn't spare much time looking around, he had the scent and that was enough. He bolted off around the edge of the pool and flew down the steps etched in the cliff, heading down towards the beach.

Sounds of shouting and engines echoed from the sands and as he arrived at the electric fence, he discovered that it was already deactivated and open. The guard beside it was unconscious. He ran through it without hesitation. "Kagome!"

What he saw began to horrify him. Kagome didn't answer, or couldn't probably because she was wrapped up tight in a blanket and being bundled onto a speedboat by several people wearing dark clothes. Masks covered their faces, making identification impossible, but even so Inuyasha didn't care. His eyes lay solely on the limp bundle of the blankets being jostled between them. "KAGOME?"

Screaming her name probably hadn't been a good idea. The people in the masks had already noticed him and were quickly climbing into the boat, revving the engine.

Cursing for all he was worth he pounded through the sand, desperate to get to that boat before it took off. "Kagome!"

The boat was already speeding away into the darkness, and he still hadn't reached the surf yet. But he was convinced he'd still make it. Even when he'd lost sight of it completely he still kept running as he heard the buzz of the boat's engine fade away into the distance.

He splashed into the waves and finally came to a stop, knee deep in the freezing water. He listened intently.

It was completely silent.

"No…"

AN: Soooo tired….


	23. Lost

**Author's Notes: **We have a mouse infestation here at the barn where I'm living for now… I kinda think they're cute and they remind me of my recently deceased hamster, but they're eating my bananas! They have to go! So we got a few traps and poison for them… but I'm an idiot and have already sprung three snap traps on myself today… ¬_¬ So two bruised thumbs, one sliced up finger, a new hole in my ear and stomach cramps from eating too many bananas… it's a wonder I've managed to update at all! ^_^;;

Anyway, if author alerts defeat you (I know they do me) I have a new mailing list that you might like to try instead. You can find it at "**rosefire.notifylist.com**" Just sign up and begin receiving email notification when I update ^_^ Simple, huh? (So simple in fact that it took Rose until now to figure it out ^_^;;)

Oh and those of you who wanted to know about 1992… this is your chapter.

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 23**

**Lost**

"I don't believe how much shit we've just found ourselves in…" Kikyo wasn't the kind of woman who would normally be found swearing, but even she was beginning to feel the strain of their situation. She leafed through the statements written on the papers in her hands to remind herself of what she was going to say, but she was focused more on the humming sound of conversation in the press room beyond that door. It sounded like a swarm of angry bees.

Kagome Higurashi had been kidnapped by a band of masked men in the middle of the night… and the public wanted answers.

"Just remember what I wrote and we'll be fine." Miroku told her and she shot him an icy glare. He may have written all the lines on the papers she was holding, but he wasn't the one who had to face down a flock of angry, demanding reporters. Granted, she knew how their minds worked, but it was taking all her calm self-control to keep her from breaking out in a cold sweat.

"We're screwed…" she muttered to herself. "We're so screwed… I don't believe we let this happen."

"There's no point stressing it," Miroku told her grimly, pushing the door open slightly to survey the scene within. He looked pained when he let it fall close again. "It's out of our hands now, we can't do anything except answer questions. It's the police who have to find her."

"If anything bad happens to her Miroku-"

"Look, if Jinko Aida was the one behind it like we keep saying," Miroku cut her off, "Then why would she be after Kagome? That girl isn't involved in our affairs, so why go after her and not Inuyasha? Kagome isn't the one she wants… I think she's safe for now."

"For now." Kikyo said coldly. "Wait till Inuyasha does something insanely stupid."

They stood in awkward quiet for a few seconds, both accessing the situation from their separate point of views. Kikyo suddenly shook her head with an annoyed grimace. "Let's just get this over with." She announced more to herself before barging past Miroku and through the press room door.

The moment she entered there was a flash of cameras in her direction from the gathered reporters. She ignored it and headed to the table at the head of the room to sit down to make her press statement. She arranged herself primly in her no-nonsense way as she directed her gaze to the lines before her. "Ladies and Gentleman… it is my grave duty to confirm that Kagome Higurashi was taken from the Inuyasha property last night. The abduction was sudden and shocking. We are all shaken by these unexpected turn of events. The police have already launched their investigation into finding Kagome Higurashi and the perpetrators who have taken her. There is no news yet to her whereabouts, but we are hopeful. It is still too early to clarify much more." Kikyo paused and glanced up. "I will now take your questions."

Hands shot up. Kikyo carefully selected one of the more docile looking reporters at the front. "You with the moustache."

He stood up. "Daily Beagle. Miss Kikyo, why did the Inuyasha residence security measures fail Kagome Higurashi in her time of need? How was it that a fifteen year old school girl was kidnapped from one of the most secure facilities in this country?"

Kikyo inwardly bristled. "There was a power cut shortly before the abduction. It was a highly organised stealth attack which we could not predict. These people have obviously been planning to take Kagome Higurashi."

There was a shocked murmur that made Kikyo frown. Of course they're been planning on taking Kagome! Why else would they have entered the villa to kidnap her? What was so shocking about that?

Another reporter stood up. "Miss Kikyo, is there any idea as to who may have taken Kagome Higurashi?"

Yes. Many, many ideas. Inuyasha had a lot of enemies… not that the public was going to be let in on that little secret. "No. As of yet we don't know who had the motive to take Kagome."

The interview continued and Kikyo's patience grew thinner as she grew wearier and wearier.

"How has the girl's parents taken the news?"

"I have not directly spoken to Kagome's family, but I am sure they are as shocked and desolated as we are."

"Why weren't the kidnappers pursued if they were seen entering and leaving the premises?"

"They used a boat. Water leaves no tracks for us to follow so we were unable to trace their steps."

And lastly… "What has Inuyasha to say about this kidnapping?"

Kikyo stopped for a moment, thinking hard for a way to answer that sensibly. Although… she could always tell the truth. "Inuyasha is more distraught than any of us. He has taken this as a personal attack and blames only himself for Kagome's loss."

A gentle murmur of 'aw' could be heard. Kikyo lowered her gaze briefly to the table in front of her, trying to hide her cynical expression. It didn't take much to have these guys eating out of Inuyasha's hand. 

After that Kikyo didn't take any more questions and quickly made her closing statement. "Make no mistake that we are making every effort to locate Kagome Higurashi and expending every resource in our grasp. The people who have committed this perverse crime will pay dearly and we _will _find Kagome Higurashi."

~*~

_"…and we _will_ find Kagome Higurashi."_

"Yeah, good luck with that."

Inuyasha took another swig of the beer in his hand and kicked his feet in an absent rhythm against the sea wall. The electronic shop opposite had at least ten television sets in the window, three of which were tuned to the twenty-four hour news channel that just happened to be broadcasting a press interview with his agent. The volume was low but that presented no problem for his sharp ears.

A young teenage girl slowed down as she walked past him on the side-walk. She stared in a dumb-founded way and he simply glared back. "What are you looking at?" he snapped at her. "Haven't you ever seen a superstar wannabe hanging out on a street corner before?"

She sped up, looking indignant.

"That's right! I'm a mean drunk too!" he yelled after her.

As soon as she was out of sight he chuckled and brought the beer bottle to his lips again. He stopped laughing instantly when he realised the bottle was no empty. "Oh crap." He muttered to himself, turning it upside down and shaking it as if that would produce more alcohol. When he discovered that was pretty unproductive he grunted and tossed the bottle over his shoulder and down the other side of the sea wall. He noted the clear smash as it hit the rocks below with a twinge of satisfaction.

But now he was out of beer.

That nicotine depravation was beginning to weigh on him too… he'd been out of nicotine patches for five hours now.

His salvation came in the form of a rather burly middle-aged man coming down the street towards him lighting his very own cigarette. Inuyasha trained a keen eye on him and hopped off the wall, moving to intercept him.

Perhaps he was due to quit some other time. Perhaps a time when his stress levels were at a minimum.

"Hey you!" Inuyasha called out to him.

The middle-aged man looked up, recognition flickered there on his face. "Hey, aren't you-"

"Yeah I get that a lot." Inuyasha cut him off rudely, earning himself a rather suspicious frown. "You gave any more of those smokes?"

"Get lost, kid." The man pushed past him roughly. Inuyasha stumbled slightly (mostly because he was nearing the 'completely plastered' stage of soberness) but as he brushed against the man he made sure to sweep a hand discreetly across the bulging pocket of his jacket, lifting the goods with no fuss.

He straightened after the man had finished shoving him and was walking away speedily, grumbling about punk kids with bad habits. Inuyasha paid him no mind as he quickly shook one of the cigarettes loose and plucked one of the matches out of the little card packet. One scrape along the rough surface of the sea wall and the match burst into flame.

"Sweet merciful…" He sighed contentedly as poisonous, life-threatening smoke filled his lungs. He parted from the innocent white stick long enough to eye it carefully. Kagome would have a few things to say to him if she saw him doing this… He scoffed and rolled his eyes as he leant back against the wall again. "Little chance of that happening."

The cigarette ran down far too quickly for Inuyasha's taste and he flicked it away over the wall when it was down to a mere stub. He began drawing another one, but hesitated… he really shouldn't keep going, he _was _trying to quit after all. But another part of him was quietly reminding him that perhaps a better time to quit would be after Kagome went ho-

He cut off that train of thought sharply and drew the next cigarette out completely. Another match and a moment later he was resting his elbows on the wall and gazing out to sea through hooded eyes. The lit cigarette hung limply between his fingers, neglected.

Inuyasha sighed and closed his eyes. "I could have saved her…"

Sharp, angry footsteps were returning from his left. He didn't need to look up to know that the burly middle-aged man he'd just pick-pocketed was coming back with a vengeance. It wasn't long before Inuyasha felt an angry finger tapping against his shoulder.

"Yeah, what?" Inuyasha demanded curtly.

"You stole my fags." There was a terrible sense of foreboding in that tone that Inuyasha didn't miss.

But even then he ignored it. Instead he took a drag of his cigarette and let the smoke out slowly. "What makes you think that?" he patronised.

The hand that had tapped his shoulder now forcefully gripped it inside, spinning him around with one jolting movement. Before Inuyasha could even make heads or tails of situation he was slugged in the face by a big meaty fist.

"That'll teach you for stealing other people's belongings!" the man lectured as Inuyasha sprawled back against the wall from the sheer force of the blow. Fortunately his face and senses were pretty much intact, but if that had been on his human night…

"You hit me!" He accused hotly.

"You stole from me!"

"Don't you know who I am?!" Inuyasha demanded.

"Couldn't care less!"

That did it. Without even bothering to roll his sleeves up Inuyasha lashed out as hard as necessary. It was enough to send the man crashing to the floor and remain conscious long enough to utter: "Aw shit… you are him…!" Before passing out completely.

"I am _not _to be messed with today!" Inuyasha snapped back.

Across the street there were already a few onlookers staring at Inuyasha and the unconscious man in shock, either they recognised him or they didn't, Inuyasha didn't particularly care which. He flipped his hair over his shoulder vainly and shoved the cigarettes and matches into his pocket. He's save them for later – right then it was probably best to get out of there before someone called the police.

The cops snooping around him again was the last thing he needed right then.

Once again, as he wandered down the road running alongside the sea wall, he found himself brooding on what had happened the night before. If he'd been just that little bit quicker could he have gotten to Kagome and saved her? If he'd gone straight to the balcony instead of the bathroom would he have been able to make it down to the beach in time to catch the boat?

Maybe he should have swam after them regardless. He hadn't heard any engine… but what if they'd just turned it off and had been sitting only a hundred metres away in the darkness while he'd floundered on the shore?

And where was she now…?

Inuyasha could barely drag his grounded gaze from the paving stones of the path. He'd let her down… he could have done something at least but he'd let her down, like he let everyone down.

She was just a school-girl… fifteen years old and about as innocent as they came. But she'd only lasted a week in his tainted presence before she'd fallen victim to all the ills that surrounded him. She hadn't deserved it… she should have just gone home and forgotten about him and the villa. At least that way one of them would have survived…

That old pier walk was beginning to look mighty interesting these days…

"Excuse me, do you have the time?"

He dragged his eyes off the pavement long enough to look up at an approaching girl… woman, he couldn't decide which. Peroxide blonde… he could smell it coming a mile off. She wore concealing shades and a pale lipstick…

She was familiar.

He shook off the déjà vu feeling and stopped beside her, lifting his own wrist to regard his watch. "It's nearly half past eleven." He shrugged then added, "Thursday."

"Oh dear," the young woman worried her lip. "I think my watch is slow… I have a job interview in half an hour and I have to be prompt, do you mind if I sync my watch to yours?"

On a normal day this would have been a very opportune moment to score. But right then he was hassled and this whole interruption was beginning to irritate him. He held on admirably. "Sure, whatever."

"I'm sorry, my nails are too long – do you mind winding it for me?" she offered her wrist.

He avoided telling her to go to hell and simply shrugged as he took her wrist and twisted the wristwatch button to line the time to match his own watch. He did it quickly and efficiently, ready to get going and get back to his broody thoughts. "There, you won't be late now."

"Thank you." She smiled gracefully and reached into the black handbag that rested on her shoulder. It was such a casual movement that Inuyasha simply didn't notice what she was doing until it was too late. A white canister was produced and she began raising it towards Inuyasha whilst covering her mouth. It still didn't click what she was doing until suddenly a bitter smelling vapour was sprayed into his face.

"What the-!" he backed away sharply. The vapour stung his eyes and invaded his lungs in one quick, alarmed intake of breath.

His lungs screamed instantly, like tiny pins were pricking the airways inside him. For some reason he couldn't draw in enough air, as his breaths became shallower and raspier. Vision blurred as his body became numb and he had no choice but to slump to his knees as agonising weakness spread through every cell of his body.

With the last shred of his strength he looked up at his attacker, wondering how of all days it had been _this _day that fate had chosen for an enemy to finally catch him unprepared. But then she took those dark glasses off and looked down at him with those cold black eyes, a look completed with that down-turned quirk of her lips and the three perfectly aligned scars that raked from her hairline to her left eye.

"Jin…" he gasped as vision failed him completely and he collapsed onto the hard ground.

Consciousness remained long enough for him to hear the screech of tyres nearby, but after that he knew nothing.

~*~

"A celebrity… is fame divorced from accomplishment. Once your personality becomes larger than any performance that you can give, you have painted yourself into a corner. So he is, in effect, the tackiest celebrity gracing our earth." 

Kagome rolled her eyes at the 'professional' analyst 'gracing' the radio with his blunt views on the nation's most favourite teenage boy. She'd never noticed how many people slagged Inuyasha off every day. Before she would have whole-heartedly agreed with the guy on the radio, but now she was _trying_ to be a little more open-minded about the whole thing.

The handcuffs clinked behind her against the metal pole she'd been cuffed to as she shifted slightly to look out of the window. It was an old window with wooden slats crossing it in a grid. The glass was smashed up in various places and dirty from god only knew how many years the building had been standing. She had no idea where she was, but beyond that window she could just about make out the tops of the green trees meaning she was either in or around a park of some description or even in a more rural area altogether.

Strong sunlight was streaming through the broken panes of glass so she eventually had to tear her gaze away, back to the room she'd been left in. It looked like someone's garage, full of junk of all kinds and an old rusty radio that had been left on for her benefit… but all she'd heard since she'd woken up was news that a girl named Kagome Higurashi had been kidnapped from Inuyasha's villa on the coast.

"So I hear Kagome Higurashi got kidnapped as well, huh?!" Kagome had often been calling out, wondering if anyone was in the other rooms of the building to hear her. "Who would have thought that she'd be kidnapped right at the same time as little old me – from the same place and all!"

It was a pretty lame attempt to convince her kidnappers that she wasn't who they wanted… but she was willing and desperate enough to try anything at that point. She was half relieved that she'd not seen anyone yet, but still mildly perturbed. What if she'd been abandoned here and was destined to starve and die while the country looked for her?

Kagome let out another sigh as she shifted her legs, trying to keep them from cramping up beneath her. Once more she jangled her cuffs again to test them and the pole, but both held strong. She was absolutely stuck.

The kidnapping had taken place so fast that she hadn't even had a chance to change out of her pyjamas. The minute she'd closed the door to her room with fruit juice in hand, a nasty smelling cloth had been clamped over her nose and mouth. She'd passed out not long after that. 

Strangely enough, there was a neat pile of fresh clothes lying nearby, but she could neither reach them or get them on even if she could. She glanced at them disdainfully again… looked like teeny bopper clothes anyway…

Kagome directed her attention around the room again since there really was nothing else better to do. Apart from the radio, she mildly noted the rest of the junk. An old and broken electric guitar, a couple of discarded picture frames, a few bottles of hydrogen peroxide, empty water bottles under one of several torn chairs. The floor was hard grey concrete, covered in the odd patch of red or white paint.

Kagome eyed those water bottles with longing. "Hello?!" she called again at the top of her lungs. "Is anyone there? I'm a bit thirsty! I wouldn't mind a drink!"

No one answered her calls.

_I wonder if the people who kidnapped me are connected to what happened yesterday_… Kagome worried her lip between her teeth. Perhaps this Jinko Aida was behind it all? Chances were that this was all connected with Kouga's attempted murder and the bomb in Inuyasha's bedroom and undoubtedly the murder she'd witnessed the day before.

Another sigh escaped Kagome's lips and she wriggled restlessly. Perhaps if she'd watched a few more episodes of MacGyver and she would have been able to find her way out of there with little more than that pencil and that piece of gum stuck to the underside of that chair.

A distant sound interrupted Kagome's contemplations and she quickly went still as she strained to listen. The sound got closer until she realised that it was footsteps lumbering up a staircase somewhere beyond that door opposite her. From the sound of it, it was a very fat person, or someone carrying a heavy burden.

Kagome shifted nervously, not knowing what to think as the footsteps shuffled closed to the door until a shadow fell across the gap of light at the bottom of the door.

"Get him inside." A muffled female voice ordered.

The door lurched open suddenly and Kagome jumped at the suddenness of it. Through it trundled a man dressed in black, walking backward and dragging someone either dead or unconscious behind him. Kagome need only catch one glimpse of those long, soft white tresses to know who it was.

_Oh no – they got Inuyasha too?!_ She strained forward, trying to catch a glimpse of that man's face… but he was wearing a balaclava and so learned nothing useful. The woman she'd heard was gone.

Inuyasha was hauled across the floor towards Kagome and as he drew closer she realised he wasn't completely unconscious as he was already stirring sleepily as he was moved.

"Who are you?" Kagome demanded of the man as he began cuffing Inuyasha to the poll beside her. "Why are you doing this to us?"

"Him, we're doing this to him." The man jabbed a gloved finger at the Hanyou who muttered something incomprehensible in his sleep. "You were just bait to draw him out."

This put Kagome right back in her place. She scowled deeply. "Then why not just let me go?" Not that she'd take the offer and leave Inuyasha to rot now that he'd arrived.

"You might tell the police where to find us." The man pointed out as he stood after checking the cuffs were secure around Inuyasha's wrists.

Kagome watched him suspiciously as he began moving towards the door. "Are you… are you Fushira Hashimoto? The man who killed Inuyasha's parents?"

The man glared back at her through the eyeholes in his balaclava with his hand on the door handle. He didn't reply, instead he jammed the handle down and stormed out like she'd grievously offended him, slamming the door in his wake.

"Probably was him…" she muttered to herself. She wasn't sure how she felt about that…

Now what about Inuyasha? Kagome shuffled around to face him and leaned over as far as the cuffs would allow. He seemed to be in the middle of a vaguely fitful dream, but not matter how many times she called his name and kicked him, he remained unconscious.

Yet another depressed sigh escaped her mouth… what the heck was going on? Who were their kidnappers? Why did they want Inuyasha?

"Inuyasha…" she hissed, kneeing him in the thigh. "Inuyasha – wake up!" If she could just free her hands she would try and shake him.

But fortunately there was at least some luck on her side…

"Mm…" Inuyasha stirred more promisingly and Kagome quickly twisted her fingers in his jacket sleeve – the only part of him she could really reach. "Kagome's gone again…"

"No, no!" She whispered to him quickly. "I'm right here! Look at me!"

He took another moment or two to rouse himself completely before blinking up blearily at her. "Kagome… what are you doing here? I thought you got kidnapped…"

"I did, but so did you apparently." She told him, wondering how hard they must have hit him to make him this dull-minded.

"Oh…" he dropped his head back down and smiled slightly. "This is _so _embarrassing…"

"We have to get out of here." Kagome told him, knowing she was stating the obvious. "I don't know who they are or what they want… they probably intend to hold us to ransom or-"

"They won't." Inuyasha interrupted.

Kagome flicked a frown at him. "What?"

"They won't hold us to ransom." Inuyasha clarified sleepily, still with his eyes closed peacefully.

Kagome was beginning to get vaguely annoyed at his distant attitude, no matter how concussed he might be. "How would you know?" she criticised. "I've been here longer than you, I know-"

"They won't hold us to ransom." He cut her off again. "They won't tell anyone where we are… for as long as they can hide us. Could be two days… could be two years."

A chill worked its way up Kagome's spine. "We have to get out of here…"

He opened his eyes a crack, still looking as incoherent as when he'd arrived. "Until they stop shoving drugs down my throat you're the one who has to figure it out…"

"Figure what out?" she snapped, getting antsy and scared.

"A way to eh…" he yawned widely. "…to escape."

Kagome stared at him intently, a tingling sense of doom and fear already bringing out Goosebumps along her cold arms. "Inuyasha…" she whispered, almost inaudibly. "You know what's going to happen to us don't you…" Kagome nearly wanted to cry as all the missing pieces to the puzzle were finally slotting into place.

She wasn't sure she wanted to know…

Inuyasha gave another sleepy little sound in the back of his throat as he closed his eyes again. "They're going to break your arms… pull out your teeth and bend back your nails. They're going to shoot you in the legs so you can't run away and dope you up with so much horse tranquilliser you'll be hard pressed to remember your name… then they'll play mind games with you as if physical torture wasn't enough…"

Kagome stared at him, her breathing getting more and more unsteady.

"Although…" he opened his eyes to look directly at her. No matter how 'doped' up he was he could still express his trademark hard eyes and closed expression. "Maybe they'll spare you because you're human… you're not really involved anyway."

A small hope Kagome was going to cling onto… she began looking around more methodically for some sort of device to help them escape. With all the junk in that room then surely there was something they could use…

"Although…" Inuyasha rolled his head back to the floor and closed his eyes. "If they could do it to a six year old I don't think they'd have much trouble torturing a fifteen year old girl either…"

Kagome stared at him with a growing sense of terror. "What?" she breathed.

"Sorry…" he gave a very small shrug of one shoulder. "Looks like it's going to be one of those years…"

AN: If anyone goes "Huh? When are you going to let us know what happened in '92?", I strangle them with my socks. ^__^


	24. A Heart in Need

**Author's Notes: **Ok, I've decided that the next person who asks me to try harder to update sooner is going to be my next death-by-sock victim. But don't worry, they're clean socks… I'm not a complete sadist. Anyway, I'm back home again T_T Thank the lord! The journey back was horrible though… I travelled the width of the country and through up five times on the way ¬_¬ That is officially the second worst journey of my life (the first being a seven hour trip through France, throwing up every half hour when I was seven). But it's all worthwhile to get my beloved broadband back! 

And I want to thank EVERYONE who has reviewed so far (and the rest who don't review but are still reading ^_^ I don't mind) and even the ones who just grumble about slow updates… well, maybe not that one person who called me a stupidhead . Wow! 4,0 reviews?! And a year ago I considered myself lucky to get 100. But thank you all, I couldn't have done it without you guys (does that sound too much like a cheesy award acceptance speech?)

Also, be warned that this chapter is basically segmented with flashback sequences… I don't know how this will work because I've never done flashbacks before (or I have and just forgot). Wanna take a wild stab in the dark to which year these flashbacks will be of?

So these flashback sequences will be closed with ~~~~~~ marks.

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 24**

**A Heart in Need**

_~21st May 1992~_

_~~~~~~~~_

_"Come on Inuyasha, stop dragging your feet!"_

_Inuyasha stuck his tongue out sullenly at his mother behind her back as she continued to drag him impatiently down the corridor of whatever building they had just entered. Inuyasha entered too many buildings a day to really take much notice of where they were or why._

_"Sesshomaru's opening the N-Tech complex in half an hour, we have to hurry!" His mother suddenly whipped Inuyasha up into her arms to carry him at a pace that better suited her._

_There she went about Sesshomaru again. Inuyasha was beginning to get the distinct feeling that Sesshomaru was the favourite of the two brothers. Of course, he was a grown-up so naturally they liked him better._

_"But I'm bored!" Inuyasha whined against his mothers shoulder. "I'm so bored I want to die!"_

_"Don't be silly." His mother admonished distractedly, looking around at the different doorways along the hall they she all but jogged down._

_It was then that Inuyasha realised where they were going._

_This was the modelling agency's building. His mother only ever came here for dress rehearsals and fashion shows… and since she was due to be somewhere else in a little while, it meant that she was planning to leave him here._

_Inuyasha knew of only one method that would allow him to get his own way. It was time to turn on the water works…_

_Ribia cast her eyes heavenward as she felt her small son instantaneously screw his face up and begin wailing at the top of his lungs, clenching his fists into the material of her dress. She winced at how he might be wrinkling her freshly ironed dress. "What on earth's the matter with you now?" she demanded irritably, already knowing he was trying to pull her leg._

_Inuyasha's response was only more incomprehensibly wailed words. Ribia gritted her teeth and marched straight towards one of the side doors; one of the dressing rooms. Inuyasha was still sobbing like the world had come to an end as she entered the room, drawing everyone's attention instantly. Models, designers, make-up artists and PA's all looked up at the new arrival._

_"Miss Ribia, what are you doing here?" a rather flamboyantly dressed man asked from where he was arranging an equally flamboyant hat on a young, half-naked woman. _

_"I'm very sorry for doing this, but I need someone to look after Inuyasha while I dash off to some other business." She carried a now screaming boy forward into the long, brightly lit room. "Do you mind?"_

_Broody models looked at the screaming child on her shoulder and burst out into simultaneous coos and aws and 'no problem at all!'s. Ribia breathed a sigh of relief, knowing her son would be safe from the bastards of the press in a room full of mildly famous women._

_But when it came time to put Inuyasha down in an empty chair, he wouldn't go. The minute she set him down he sprang back up and latched onto her leg, screaming vaguely that he didn't want her to go. "Inuyasha, stop making a scene!" she tried to say as tolerantly as she could as she pried him off her leg._

_Another model came over and helped scoop him off Ribia's leg, holding him as he kicked and screamed, trying to get back to his mother. "Quite a pair of lungs he's got!" the model said politely over the racket._

_"Thank you so much for doing this." Ribia thanked her co-workers again as she backed towards the door again. "I promise I will make this up to you all when I pick him up!"_

_"It's no problem!" they all began chorusing again._

_After all, to them, getting to pander to an adorable little boy was a chance none of them would ever experience in their own lives… not with a career that relied on them staying slim and young. Having kids was guaranteed to lose you a modelling job any day._

_"Thank you." Ribia opened the door and glanced back at her screaming son who was straining to run after her. Any other adult in her position would drop everything and run to his aid. Those cries could be really heartbreaking to hear… but Ribia knew Inuyasha's mind didn't work like most little boys. He was manipulative and spoilt. "Be good, Inuyasha!" she called with false sweetness before stepping out into the corridor and closing the door._

_Inuyasha continued screaming for a good five minutes after the door had shut, ignoring all the female coddling and reassurances around him. He listened, waiting for his mother's step to turn back around and come running to fetch him. But she just kept going until he could no longer hear her at all._

_Deep resent and anger lodged in his throat, making him cry even harder, this time for real. She'd abandoned him again. She always did that when it wasn't convenient for her to drag around a little boy. She always went to boring places and talked with boring people and then dumped him for hours on end in more boring places._

_"Don't worry, she'll be back before you know it." Someone said._

_"Stop crying, you'll wrinkle that sweet little face of yours."_

_Models… Inuyasha began to calm down a little, realising that perhaps it wasn't going to be all that bad… after all, grown-ups were easier to twist around his little finger than his parents._

_It wasn't long before Inuyasha completely forgot about his mother and was pandering to the whims of the women around him. Rehearsals had been drawn to a complete stop now that he'd arrived, not that anyone seemed to have noticed._

_"… and then Daddy said that Sesshomaru looked like a girl!" He giggled as he told them a story that didn't seem to be going anywhere, yet they still hung onto his every word. "Mommy wouldn't talk to him for a fort… forni… two weeks!"_

_The models practically squealed at the adorable waves pouring off Inuyasha. One of them leant down with a smile. "Say 'Fortnight'."_

_"Four knights!"_

_More squeals._

_"Alright girls! Back to work!" the flamboyantly dressed man began clapping his hands to get everyone's attention. Reluctantly the models began slinking back to their dressing tables or began getting dressed up in their weird costumes. The flamboyant man with a lisp bent down to speak to Inuyasha. "Why don't you go play with that box of toys over there?" he pointed to a cupboard filled with old props and designer calamities._

_Inuyasha knew a box of crap when he was looking at it. He gave the man a dirty look as he left to go chatter to some of the models. Inuyasha kicked his feet against the chair, growing bored again with no one to distract him._

_"Oh my, you look miserable in here." _

_Inuyasha darted his gaze up at a grown-up he hadn't noticed approaching him. Actually, she was in her mid-teens, but to him she looked as grown-up as the other women in the room, just dressed in more normal clothes. Though he reckoned all that blonde hair wasn't her natural colour._

_"Why don't we go down to the cafeteria and get you some fudge cake?" she held out her hand for him to take._

_Inuyasha took it automatically. Strangers were always chaperoning him here and there, this was nothing new for him._

_No one noticed as he slipped out of the dressing room with the young girl who didn't work there..._

_"My name's Jinko Aida." She told him as she held his hand down the stairs. "Of course that's not my real name, but everyone calls me that so you can call me Jin."_

_"My name's Inuyasha," he told her. Jinko was actually a rather pretty girl, of course she was no match for his mother but he liked her open-features and her smile._

_"Everyone knows who you are." She laughed squeezing his hand. "No need to be so formal with me."_

_She led him out of a fire exit and down the metal staircase outside , heading down into an alley. Somehow it didn't seem like the way to the cafeteria. "Where are we going?" he asked, knowing for sure that the cafeteria was inside the building, not down an alley._

_"I just remember that there was a corner shop that sold better fudge just along the road. Why don't we go there?"_

_By now Inuyasha was beginning to grow suspicious. His parents were naturally and chronically suspicious people thanks to their professions, but at least a smidgen of it had rubbed off on Inuyasha. He started to drag on Jinko's hand. "I think I should go back. Mom will shout if I'm not there when she gets back…"_

_"Oh come on, it's only up the road." She chided. "You're a man aren't you?"_

_No one insulted Inuyasha's potential masculinity and got away with it. So he chewed his cheek sulkily as he followed Jinko towards the mouth of the alley…_

_That's when it all went wrong._

_A slim black car came screeching into view before them, making Inuyasha start and flinch back. Two men got out of the front wearing normal working clothes and started coming straight towards them, walking with hurried but purposeful and firm strides. This was bad… Inuyasha instinctively knew trouble when he saw it and tried to back away and run down the alley… but why wouldn't Jinko let go of his hand._

_"Come on, don't make a fuss now Inuyasha." She said tightly, refusing to let go of his hand._

_"Let go!" he screamed… then he caught on and quickly began screaming at the top of his lungs in hopes that someone would hear and come running to help._

_"Shut up you stupid brat!" one of the men caught hold of his shoulder in a painful grip and shoved a cloth over his nose and mouth. It smelt strong… enough to make his head spin and his cries weaken._

_"Stupid kid…" the other man grabbed him by the hair and began dragging him towards the car. "Good job, Jin."_

_"Hey, be careful with him!"_

_Inuyasha was out like a light before he even hit the back seat of the BMW._

~~~~~~~~

"You were so much shorter the last time I saw you." Jinko Aida forked up a little bit of fudge cake from a plate on the table in front of her. "And sweeter looking. Your face has gone all hard and petulant, you know. Now open wide."

She brought the cake to Inuyasha's mouth, but he only glowered semi-consciously at her. "If my mouth wasn't so dry I'd spit on you." With his hands tied securely behind the back of his rickety wooden chair, that would be the maximum he was capable of.

"Play nice, puppy." She diverted the fork to her own mouth. "You didn't have much of a mouth on you last time either. Where did you get the attitude?"

"Must have developed after _someone _murdered my parents." He responded. To him, Jinko didn't seem as tall or as pretty as she used to. Maybe that was because half her face was carefully covered by a curtain of blonde locks and wore a pair of obscuring shades.

She laughed softly. "I half want to let the drugs wear off so I can look you in the eye and see your real fear." She pushed the cake around the plate. "But then you'd break free and run to the police."

Inuyasha had no doubt that he would probably be pissing himself had he been in a normal state of mind, but right then he didn't particular care about Jinko, or the fact that his life was in danger, or the fact that Kagome's was as well. But there was one question he felt he had to ask. "Why…?"

"Why what?" Jinko arched her eyebrows over her shades. "Why did we kidnap you when you were six or why did we kidnap you again? Maybe we just don't like you Inuyasha."

Inuyasha looked at the floor, feeling sick.

"Of course, you already know why." Jinko said quietly. "Didn't you find out a week ago last Monday? When you were human? You tried to kill yourself that night if my sources are correct."

"That was an accident." Inuyasha said thickly.

"You probably don't even remember what you learned or why you took the drink Kouga offered you even though you _knew_ it was brimming with lethal doses of heroine." Jinko said bluntly. "Do you remember Inuyasha? What I told you that night?"

He shook his head, although small details were already beginning to seep through the thick fog that obscured that night from his memory. He remembered the blonde woman, the drink… the truth behind the worst, most traumatic experience of his life and the warning of what was to come…

He'd forgotten it all and now he recalled it when it was too late.

Inuyasha dropped his chin down to his chest.

"Oh Inuyasha, don't look so down." She reached over and squeezed his shoulder. "Look, I promise that I'll try and convince Fushira to go easy on you when he comes by Friday night… tomorrow, ok?"

"He tried to kill me six years ago…"

"I know," Jinko smoothed the bangs from his face in a soothing, motherly fashion. "I promise I won't let him hurt you this time." His eyes were beginning to sting and he felt a lump in his throat. Jinko cupped his cheek. "Do you want to go back in with your friend?"

He nodded quickly.

"Come on then."

Kagome glanced up eagerly when the door to the junk-filled room opened. In came the a blonde woman, dragging a weary looking Inuyasha behind her. Kagome kept her mouth shut, despite her urge to question this woman silly. Instead she just watched as the young woman brought Inuyasha into the room and made him sit on the floor. Rather than tying him back to the pole she simply smiled, stroked his cheek and left the room again.

"Are you ok?" Kagome quickly hissed to Inuyasha, slightly jealous that he wasn't still cuffed to the pole like she was. "Did she hurt you?"

"Jinko never hurt me…" He said drowsily, falling onto his back to stare at the ceiling through hooded eyes. "I hurt her though…"

"Listen, I've been thinking." Kagome glanced at a work bench against the far wall. "There's a saw on that table over there. Do you think you can get it?"

"It was him all along…" Inuyasha  didn't seem to be hearing her. "It was him…"

"Inuyasha!" she pleaded. "You need to get the saw down so we can get out of here! I don't want to be tortured! Please!"

"I kept having dreams that he had come to rescue me… I kept hearing his voice when I hallucinated, kept hearing him… but then when I woke up I realised I was still alone."

Whoever 'he' was, he would have to wait. "You're not alone Inuyasha, you have me now. And if you could just go and get the saw we can go home."

Water was leaking out the corner of his eyes, but Kagome wasn't sure if they were real tears or that he was just tired. She began pulling at her wrists again, trying to fit her hands through the rings like she'd been doing since she'd woken up, she was nearly free… or would be given a few more hours of struggling.

"I did try to kill myself. You were right."

Kagome looked across at Inuyasha, pained. "What?"

"Last week… on the new moon. I knew what Kouga had put in my drink." Inuyasha said quietly. "I still drank it because I wanted to die."

Kagome gaped softly. "But you said-"

"I didn't know… until now."

It was weird. Before Kagome would have looked at the scene before her in shock and bemusement… Inuyasha the superstar lying in the middle of the dirtiest room in creation, crying. But now all she saw was one teenage boy that had been screwed with his whole life… it didn't seem so strange anymore. All she felt for him was dismay and compassion. She wasn't sure what to do…

"Why would you try to overdose, Inuyasha?" she asked tiredly. "If you knew it could kill you…"

The water running out of his eyes were definitely tears now. Kagome renewed her struggles to break free with new vigour and determination. That was how she did it, with a bit of wriggled and a few cracking noises, her right hand slipped through the ring of metal and she was free in an instant.

But the first thing she did, instead of run to the window and attempt a break-out, was to go to Inuyasha. She knelt quickly and brushed his tears away with her thumbs. "Don't cry, please don't, or you'll make me cry too." Her throat felt strangely tight as she spoke and she looked down into his face gently, seeing the pain there. "It's ok, we're going to get out of here."

"What's the point?" he muttered.

"That's just the drugs talking."

"No it's not." I gave her an irritated look and turned his head away.

Kagome's brow lowered. "Ok, fine, you want to stay and get tortured, fine. That's your choice. But I want to get out of here and I need you help… please?"

The door slammed open, rebounding off another workbench behind it and knocking a few junk objects to the floor. Kagome whipped back around, knowing she was in serious trouble in before the big man walked in.

"Oh, he's early." Inuyasha said weakly from the floor.

Kagome recognised his picture from the newspaper. It was none other than Fushira Hashimoto… yet that mild looking picture from the paper did him no real justice. Cruelness leaked from every pore and those hard beady eyes told Kagome that the one who would be doing the torturing was him…

"What the fuck are you doing up? Jin told me you were tied up." He remarked as his greeting.

Before Kagome could even stammer a response, Fushira had crossed the room in three long strides, grabbed her hair and had literally tossed her back towards the pole. The metal smacked painfully against her shoulder, making her arm go numb and a gasp escape her throat.

Kagome had never earned such treatment in her life… she had every right to be terrified, especially when that heavy set boot descended on her skull, grinding her cheek into the concrete floor. She grimaced in pain and only managed a strangled sound of pain.

"You don't move from that spot unless we tell you to, got that honey?" To her great relief he lifted the boot away and headed for Inuyasha. But for some reason, this didn't calm Kagome's rattled nerves.

"Well, well, look who sprouted up a few feet."

Then that boot got to work again and slammed into Inuyasha's ribs hard. The impact looked as though it had hurt more than it should have… Kagome wondered if there was a little demon in that Fushira Hashimoto.

"Do you know how long I was rotting away in that stink hole of a cell?!" he shouted at a curling Inuyasha. "Six – fucking – years! All because one brat identified me as the guy who slammed that car with my truck!"

Kagome wanted to scream that he'd killed two people – he had deserved to go to prison for longer than six years! But her throat seemed frozen. She wondered if Inuyasha would shout it instead but he didn't.

Hashimoto bent down and grabbed Inuyasha by the hair, wrenching him up. "Consider this my revenge. For putting me under in that living hell for all those years. Six years I lived in torture… now you'll do the same for me. Six years, no more, no less." He let Inuyasha drop back to the ground. "And then of course we have Jinko to repay. You spoiled her pretty face with those nails of yours… that in itself will need three years at least."

Kagome trembled beside the pole. Nine years of torture? Surely someone would find them before then… surely she could escape with Inuyasha? Sooner rather than later hopeful… but sooner might as well have been a few weeks away in the grand scale of nine years.

Inuyasha was trembling too.

"We start with you tomorrow morning." Fushira spat at Inuyasha. "We'll start with that arrogant little face of yours. Maybe break your nose a couple of time and then get out the pliers for your teeth, eh?" he swung his gaze to Kagome who flinched under the intensity. "And then the day after that we give you a turn? I know a few techniques that can separate those manicured nails from your fingers in six hours. Trust me, it's agonising."

She shuddered unconsciously.

Thankfully he left after that, but not before securing both her and Inuyasha to the pole again, but this time by one hand each. The second set of cuffs was employed in pinning their free hands to each other. Both of them were deathly silent. Inuyasha seemed to be wallowing in self-pity, Kagome was still trying to think of an escape plan…

It was getting dark when their supper arrived in the form of two doughnuts and a large diet coke from MacDonald's to share. Jinko Aida delivered it, setting it down gently within their reach before smiling at Inuyasha and leaving again. Kagome had noticed the way her perfect blonde hair had parted when she'd knelt down, giving a glimpse of the shiny scar tissue beneath. Had Inuyasha done that? When he was six maybe?

If so, why was she acting as if she was actually quite fond of Inuyasha?

"The food's surprisingly good for the accommodation." Kagome found herself saying as she stared at the sugary goodness of the donut after Jinko had left.

"It's drugged." Inuyasha said dully without looking.

Kagome stared at the food with slightly more caution. "We shouldn't eat it then."

"If we don't and they come back to find full plates they'll only force-feed it to you." Inuyasha said flatly again, too depressed to really put much emotion into anything he said.

He began reaching for his food, hauling Kagome's free hand with him.

Kagome snatched it up before he could touch it. "I'll eat your share then." She said abruptly.

Inuyasha turned a confused gaze on her. "What…?"

"The sooner those tranquillisers wear off the sooner we can get out of here." She reasoned, looking at the donuts. "If I eat both donuts then they will think you ate yours and won't force-feed you. And when you get your strength back we can bust out of here, right?"

"That won't work." Inuyasha shook his head slowly.

"_Yesh it wiy_!" Kagome nodded eagerly with one donut already in her mouth and the second one in hand, ready and waiting. "Just make sure you remember to carry me out of here if I can't walk."

Inuyasha gave her an irritated glare. "If you eat both donuts you'll probably fall into a coma!"

"Worst case scenario, Inuyasha." She said quickly as she bit into the second donut. "God, I think I can actually taste the drugs…"

"You're an idiot." Inuyasha told her shortly. "We're not getting out of here, you might as well just give up."

"Well sorry, I'm not resigning myself to torture unless I have to." She snapped. "You just hold up your end of the bargain and find a way out of here when your sense return."

"What bargain?" he demanded, but she was already slurping down the diet coke, too busy guzzling the liquid to respond. He gave up and let her eat cake, as it were, deciding it was on her own head if she didn't wake up tomorrow…

_~~~~~~_

_"Just eat it for god's sake!" Jinko clamped her arm around Inuyasha's small head, struggling with him to get the drugged food down his throat._

_"It smells bad!" he yelled back, wriggling to get free. He was strong for a child but not enough to break free of one teenage girl's grip._

_"Don't be such a baby!" she admonished, forcing the lump of bread into his mouth whilst trying to avoid his sharp little fangs._

_From the opposite end of the room, Fushira Hashimoto just laughed. "Oh come on, Jin. He's a child!" he crowed as he chiselled lumps of rubber off the souls of his boot with a penknife._

_"He's a strong child!" Jinko snarled. "Stop waving your arms around! You'll have someone's eye out!"_

_Inuyasha drew in a breath with a sharp hiss, realising she'd given him a rather opportune opening and an idea. The fear and anger inside him made him irrational… things he wouldn't normally even think of doing were beginning to manifest as of late…_

_Well, being locked up in a dog cage and tormented for days on end was beginning to strain on his young mind._

_"I HATE YOU!!" he screamed as loud as he could as he raked his short, but sharp claws towards Jinko's face._

_Flesh tore… blood sprayed._

_Inuyasha was released in an instant and he dropped back onto the floor gazing in dumb shock at the girl standing in front of him. She hadn't cried out or screamed, but she looked just as shocked as him as she raised a timid hand to her face, dabbing light fingers against the bright, fresh blood that was already running down her brow and cheek into her left eye._

_Inuyasha looked down at his hand, surprised by the lack of blood on his fingers._

_Then all hell exploded._

_Fushira erupted like a volcano, shouting and screaming about nasty little children, Inuyasha shouted and screamed back about various things, it was his only defence. In the wild fray that followed, Inuyasha was too confused to take much of what happened in. He knew that Jinko had slipped away during the escalated scuffle, but other than that, all he was aware of was the crushing blows the big man was dealing to him, the boot that kept crashing into his rips._

_And that penknife came into play more than once…_

_After it all, Fushira simply dragged Inuyasha up by the grubby collar of his t-shirt and lifted him like a limp rag doll to throw him back into the steel dog cage. Inuyasha was too weak to protest by then._

_He only felt relief when Fushira left the room, leaving him in near-silence for the rest of the night. It gave Inuyasha a chance to heal, but the time passed with excruciating slowness… every rattling breath that he took was drawn out and a whole task in itself. It wasn't until later in the night that he found the strength to pull his arm over his face and cry…_

_He just wanted his Mom…_

_He had dreams, small fitful nightmares that only lasted for minutes and kept him awake for most of the night, but there was one vivid one that always recurred._

_He dreamt that his father had come to rescue him, and that it was his voice that he could hear in the next room. His father always shouted, demanding to see Inuyasha and it was usually at that point that Inuyasha fell into a deeper slumber where dreams didn't exist._

_And when he woke up he was only dismayed to find that his father had never come and he was as alone as ever._

_Except… it hadn't ever been a dream._

~~~~~~~

Kagome snorted against his shoulder, lost in her dreams. "It's alright Mama… I'm coming home on Sunday…" she mumbled in a not-so intelligible way.

The handcuffs that joined their hands clinked against the concrete between them as she shifted closer in her sleep, unconsciously seeking a warmer body in the chilled room. A cold draft had been sweeping through the window since the sun had set, if Kagome hadn't been doped up she wouldn't have been able to sleep in such a temperature.

Inuyasha was still numb to it. All he could do was stare ahead at the red stains on the floor. That was paint… but the crusty black looking marks were blood, old blood by the smell of it.

His blood.

"He set it up…" Inuyasha whispered into the frigid air, his breath too cold to form vapour clouds.

For six months he's periodically dreamt that his father had come to rescue him, a small hope that the dream would come true had been what kept him going…

But now he knew.

Jinko had told him the truth the night of the new moon… he remembered now. He'd been so upset he'd deliberately used Kouga's drink as an excuse. And in the morning he'd woken with amnesia of all that had happened.

Of course, anyone would be upset upon discovering their own father had organised their own kidnapping.

AN: Sorry… all chapters must come to an end at some point…


	25. Don't Hear, Don't See, Don't Speak

**Author's Notes: **I don't think I've ever had so much trouble writing a chapter before. I've been planning this chapter since the beginning (well, parts of it) and so it feels weird to have finished with it.

Once again, back with the flashbacks but this is the last two sequences for this story (there's a thing called over-kill that I'm worried about). Oh and judging by the way things are going, there may be more chapters left than I originally planned. I'd say about four or five chapters are left to go now.

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 25**

**Don't Hear, Don't See, Don't speak…**

~~~~~~~

_"-do you have any idea how long we'll be in prison if the police catch up with us?" Fushira Hashimoto's voice growled, a sound muffled by the walls of Inuyasha's room. He called it his room… it was the only room he ever got to see._

_Right then he couldn't see very much at all. The drugs had a firm hold of his system and his head was wrapped up in such a blanket of apathy and emptiness that he could barely even recall who he was or where he was anymore. The voices going on in the other room were like part of a dream to him. It had to have been a dream… because he could hear his father's voice too._

_"The whole idea of this scheme was to boost my publicity!" The normally smooth voice of the prime minister was now at an angry pitch to match Fushira's. "You kidnap the boy – the press go nuts for a few weeks and then you give him back! The general election comes the following week and I win through a landslide of sympathy votes!"_

_"If you dare tell the police about this kidnapping the chances of them tracking us down go up!" Hashimoto ranted. "You go public when **I **say – and that's after we give him back and we've left the country with our fifty grand!"_

_"Unacceptable. We go public **now!**"_

_"If you go public now I will inform the police that you were the one who organised your own son's kidnapping!"_

_This was met with a long silence.  Then there was the muffled sigh of resignation. "Agreed."_

_Inuyasha slipped back into unconsciousness easily, like water closing over his head. When he woke he had forgotten the conversation and was left with only the vaguest memory of a dream where his father had come for him…_

_Instead he found Jinko kneeling down in front of his dog cage. "Good morning," she smiled at him. Half her face was covered with fresh white bandages. "Would you like some breakfast?"_

_Inuyasha remained in the furthest corner, silently watching her. He'd injured her yesterday and she was acting unusually nice to him. He didn't trust that for an instant. She was probably trying to lure him close so she could twist his ears._

_"I have a present for you Inuyasha." Jinko walked to the door. "It belongs to my brother, but he said you could borrow it for the day."_

_She opened the door and whistled._

_In through the gap toddled a small black animal with a whippy tail. A puppy. Jinko caught its collar and gestured for Inuyasha to come forward. "Come over here, it doesn't bite at all."_

_Inuyasha didn't move. It wasn't that he was scared of dogs. Back at the villa they had several, all of them large and ranging from Alsatian to German Shepherd. They weren't all that friendly sometimes and Inuyasha had never been allowed to play with them when they were puppies. He wondered why Jinko was doing this…_

_"__You like puppies don't you, Inuyasha?" Jinko laughed slightly as she knelt down and stroked the animal. "Of course you do, you're practically related."_

_Inuyasha stared at her a moment before deciding it couldn't hurt… Jinko had never been overly mean to him. It was only Fushira that he had to watch out for and since he wasn't around…_

_He crept out of the cage._

_Jinko smiled as he came over. "This one's a Labrador."_

_He remembered the dozens of advert for the toilet paper. "Like the Andrex puppy?"_

_"But this one's black." She nodded. "You can stroke it if you want."_

_Inuyasha didn't move.  _

_"Go on. It won't bite you." _

_"…but…"_

_"Go on. Stroke it."_

_Inuyasha slowly and timidly reached out, still not entirely sure about the situation. He touched the puppy's head between the ears, hesitantly skimming its fur with the backs of his fingers. The puppy nosed his hand and Inuyasha stepped a little closer._

_"…Feels nice…" he said, beginning to smile for the first time in weeks._

_An odd click sounded from his left and before Inuyasha could turn his head a tremendous bang made him jolt._

_The dog yelped and died in an instant. Inuyasha reeled back, a hand touching the warm blood dribbling down his face. It wasn't his blood… and it felt all the more repulsive for it. Jinko gaped in horror at the dead animal before whirling to face Fushira who stood in the doorway, cleaning his handgun. "Why did you do that?!" she whispered frantically. "That was my brother's dog!"_

_"It was just an animal Jinko." Fushira snapped cruelly slanting a nasty look at Inuyasha who was staring flatly at the puppy's body. "And so are you, brat."_

~~~~~~

"…fear has gripped the nation as the news of Inuyasha's disappearance is announced. Police suspect that the kidnappers who abducted Miss Kagome Higurashi early yesterday have probably abducted Inuyasha as well. Authorities urge anyone with any information regarding this investigation to step forward…"

Jinko Aida flicked the radio off with a small sigh and turned her gaze to the broken window at the opposite end of the room. "National news already, huh? Last time we kidnapped you no one gave a toss."

"My popularity must have gained some." Inuyasha responded flatly from the floor by the pole. Kagome was still conked out and dead to the world beside him, twitching every now and then to let them know she was still alive and dreaming.

"You're ego gained some as well." Jinko noted dryly.

She didn't speak for several minutes after that, and Inuyasha was more than willing to let the silence stretch. Then she finally shifted and removed her shades to fold them in her lap. "You should get some sleep… conserve your strength for morning."

"It is morning." Inuyasha said contrarily.

"You know what I mean." Jinko flicked a brief glance at the dark sky outside. "Fushira was thinking of shaving your head… then work on making a few scars on your face. He wants revenge for me."

"Let him…" Inuyasha said indifferently. "I heal."

"Not if there's poison in the wounds." Jinko countered. "How would you feel about that…? You always did strike me as a little vain about your looks… so how would you feel to have permanent, disfiguring scars all over you face on top of being a skin-head."

He'd probably never go out in public again. "I'd feel like _you _I suppose." He shrugged lightly with his bored 'whatever' expression.

Jinko sat down smoothly in an old arm-chair with the stuffing bursting out of the seams. She idly flicked a lock of her hair between her fingers, gazing off into space. Inuyasha wondered where Fushira was… probably napping downstairs with his torture kit as a pillow.

That was how Inuyasha remembered him sleeping anyway…

"You're father was a very interesting man…" Jinko narrowed her eyes slightly. "A fool, but an interesting one at least. Do you have any idea why he asked us to kidnap you in the first place?"

Inuyasha was forced to shrug again, uselessly. "He hated me as much as everyone else seems to." He said with a mild sigh.

Jinko gave him a brief, incredulous smile. "Don't let it bother you or anything."

He rolled his eyes.

"He thought that by having you abducted for a week or two would win him the sympathy votes in the general election. His opponent was looking more promising at the time… I guess he must have been desperate enough to put a price on his own child's head in order to swing the votes his way." Jinko told him.

"If that's true, why didn't my family tell the police?" Inuyasha tried to squash the nagging pain that arose. Hadn't they cared about him? Had his mother known? Sesshomaru? Anyone other than his father? "It doesn't make sense that he would pull that kind of stunt for publicity and then forget to tell anyone."

"Fushira blackmailed him to keep his silence until we had passed out of the country." Jinko ran her fingers along the armrest of her armchair. "It was all a bit of a stalemate. Fushira wouldn't give you back until your father had paid up and we could book our plane tickets. But your father wouldn't pay up until you were back with him. It was stupid really… it was just an arrangement but after your father refused to cough up after the second week, Fushira figured we could motivate him with a little torture."

Inuyasha swallowed hard, half wishing that Kagome was conscious to offer some kind of support. A shoulder maybe…

Jinko sighed loftily. "But in the end it all went pear shaped. Fushira got carried away and wouldn't give you back even when your father was offering the money on a silver platter. And your father couldn't go to the police because Fushira would expose him…"

"Oh poor dad." Inuyasha said flatly, letting his head fall back against the pole with a thud.

"Indeed." Jinko smirked in a lady-like way. "Fushira only gave you back until your father was out-voted in the general elections, then we took our money and left…" she leant forward so her forearms rested on her knees. "So tell me… what did your father say to you when he saw you again after three months?"

Inuyasha shook his head slightly. "I don't remember…"

Jinko tutted. "Pity…" she sighed and stood to make her way to the door. "I'd like to know how a man like that can face his own son."

A rather sharp surge of anger and bewilderment burned his throat. He was unable to stop himself. "I'd like to know how you could do the same thing after all you and Hashimoto put me through!" Damn.. his voice had cracked.

Jinko stopped and looked back at him blankly for a moment. Her mouth opened softly… but she seemed to change her made as she shook her head slightly. "Are you sure you ate your food?"

Inuyasha became painfully aware of Kagome's soft snoring beside him… but he didn't look at her. That just might give him away. "If I could stand up you would be dead right now!" he ground out with feeling.

"Mm." Jinko hummed blandly, either looking slightly perturbed or annoyed, he couldn't tell which. She opened the door and swept out, locking it behind her.

Inuyasha stared after her before slowly lowering his gaze to the grey concrete in front of him. Kagome shifted again in her sleep, muttering something incomprehensible. He ignored her for the most part, too busy listening to that festering resentment and pain inside him to pay much attention to his immediate surroundings.

Jinko's question bothered him. What had his father said to him the first time he'd seen him after the kidnapping? It was so long ago… at the time he hadn't paid that much attention… he hadn't _known_ that his father was the cause of that world of pain and all he'd felt was relief to be back in familiar settings with familiar faces…

It was so long ago…

~~~~~~

_It had been three months down the line… well that's what Jinko had told him but Inuyasha's sense of time had been distorted. He had no idea what time it was or what day of the week… he was troubled to find he could barely remember the month or the year. Was it '91 or '92… maybe even '93?_

_It was even worse when he was blindfolded._

_Outside he could hear a distant hum of traffic, the odd horn blow of angry drivers…_

_He was back in the city._

_It seemed like a day had passed since Fushira Hashimoto had strapped a blindfold over his head and slapped tape over his mouth, muttered something about it being time before tossing him in the back of some van to transport him to where he was now. In fact, only a few hours had passed, but he'd been left alone for so long that once more time held very little meaning to him._

_He could have sworn he'd heard his kidnappers leaving no sooner had they dumped him in this musty smelling room. Normally he could hear Jinko humming in another room, but now there was nothing. Normally Fushira could be heard either shouting at his underlings or snoring as he slept. It was completely silent in this new building._

_It was damp but warm and he could smell rotting, but he wasn't sure what exactly had been rotting._

_The cuffs securing him to the radiator were beginning to make sores on his wrists, opening old sores at the same time. It was painful… he tried to move as little as possible. Instead he just listened to the sound of the traffic outside, straining to catch the sound of something more human, like a voice or a laugh. Something to reassure him that there really were other people in the world than Fushira and his cronies._

_As he listened he wondered when his kidnappers would come back. They'd never left him before… they'd never taken him anywhere than the junk filled loft that he normally inhabited. Maybe Fushira had finally gotten bored and abandoned him in this stinking hell to die of starvation and loneliness._

_But as he listened to the world outside a different sound started to rise above the rest of the background noise. The sound of a deep engine grew louder, dominating the other cars until Inuyasha realised it was only a street away and getting closer._

_He began to panic, but at the same time couldn't ignore the hope that maybe his father had come to save him._

_The engine cut off directly below, car doors slammed and men's voices barked orders. The whole building shuddered as some heavy object began crashing against the front door downstairs. It was a menacing and frightening crunching that had Inuyasha leaning that bit closer to the wall in an effort to make himself smaller._

_Shit… he thought, a word he'd picked up from Fushira's frequent use. He squeezed his eyes shut behind the blindfold and dipped his head. What the hell was happening?_

_The front door gave at last and with a tremendous crash and feet thundered over the threshold. The stairs groaned as a large group of people moved up them, heading right for him… Inuyasha lifted his head slightly and heard a muffled mutter. "What the hell is that smell?"_

_The door crashed open and the footfalls stumbled into silence. Inuyasha lifted his head quickly towards the doorway, silently trying to determine who it was._

_"Dear god…" A young sounding man breathed._

_Inuyasha squirmed uncomfortably._

_Someone older spoke up, but he stuttered uncertainly. "We-We'll have to deal with that later… we came for the boy."_

_Someone crossed the room in a few short strides and Inuyasha felt gentle hands touch his shoulder. "You'll be ok now." Said the man. "We finally found you." Then over to the others. "We need some bolt cutters over here!" _

_Not his father, but probably the next best thing. Inuyasha wasn't one to complain as to the identity of his rescuer. He bit down on the inside of his lip as someone else came over and put a lightweight, clean-smelling blanket around his shoulders, unknowingly brushing against his arm. It was still broken._

_It was odd that he'd been waiting for this moment for three months, silently hoping and praying… and now that it had finally arrived he didn't feel all that relieved._

_He was still a little numb._

_"You'll be ok now." The man who had first spoken repeated his words in a soothing manner. "I'm detective Sano, I'm with the police. We're going to take you back to your parents now."_

_Inuyasha nodded slightly._

_The bolt cutters arrived and it was only a moment before he was free from the cuffs. The tape was carefully peeled from his face and the blindfold untied. Automatically he turned to look across the room to see what the source of that terrible stink was…_

_What he saw made his breath catch._

_"Don't look!" Detective Sano jerked his chin back around to avert his gaze, but a little too late. The image was imprinted on Inuyasha's mind._

_Bodies… dozens of them, all lined up along the opposite wall and wrapped up in something like cling-film. Fushira Hashimoto's work…? Who were they…?_

_"Come on…" the detective picked him up swiftly, obviously not realising the condition of Inuyasha's arm. "Let's get you out of here." Inuyasha was carried out of that room in a eye-blink, but Inuyasha still got another glimpse of that massacre._

_Hospital had been the first stop. Inuyasha was constantly surrounded by anxious people from the moment he'd left the old warehouse. It was slightly bewildering and he was left at a complete loss for words and emotions the entire time. No one asked him about what had happened, all of them were strangers anyway. A doctor took a look at his arm and bandaged it. A dentist looked at his teeth but declared Hanyou baby teeth were soon replaced. A nurse fixed up all the cuts and bruises on his small body with slightly more care and gentleness than the previous too…_

_But it wasn't until his mother arrived in the hospital ward that Inuyasha felt the first pang of sincere relief. "Mom!" She looked different. Pale, dark-eyed and wearing jeans for the first time. She broke down into tears at the sight of him and simply held him, more for her benefit than his. She could barely say anything intelligible but he got the basic message that she'd been distraught and terrified for him for the past three months._

_"Who did this to you?" she sniffled fiercely, stroking his hair in a motherly fashion. Something she didn't often display. "What did they do to you?"_

_Inuyasha frowned slightly but didn't answer._

_His mother stared at him, before quickly making her first mistake. "It's ok, you don't have to talk about it. I know it must have been painful for you."_

_And then his father had arrived. The man who had started it all…_

_Inuyasha had never been so pleased to see him in his life. "Daddy!" He looked worse than his wife, a shade paler and a little grey around the temples. But just like his wife he pulled Inuyasha into a tight embrace. "Thank god you're safe…" he whispered, his eyes not staying completely dry either. "My god, what did they do to you?"_

_Inuyasha didn't want to talk about it. His mother had said he didn't have to, and he felt a little better being able to decide what to do for himself. He didn't feel the need to cry like his parents and he didn't feel the need to go over every detail of what he'd just been through._

_"It's too soon…" His mother told her husband who just nodded slowly in acceptance._

_They'd gone back home the same day to a villa that was unusually sombre and cautious around Inuyasha. Miroku barely said two words to him, but probably only because Kaede had cautioned him to watch his mouth… and Miroku always seemed to have a case of foot-in-mouth syndrome so he'd kept his distance. Either the maids and stewards gawked at him knowingly or simply ignored him – opting for that 'pretend everything is normal' deal. It was a strange atmosphere. His parents didn't want to leave him alone either, constantly coddling him and paying more attention to him than they ever had in their lives._

_Inuyasha wasn't sure he liked it._

_So at the first opportunity he'd snuck away and gone up to his room._

_Everything was as it should be. When he usually left his room it was an organised tip and by the time he got back one of the maids would have cleaned it up for him… only for him to mess it up and start the whole cycle of events. He'd left it three months ago to be dropped off at the modelling agency by his mother in a mess, but as usual, it was prim and tidy._

_His toys were all there, arranged neatly in his box. Everything was so normal in his room that he finally began to relax a little. Maybe if he could just put everything behind him and forget what had happened it would all go back to normal and he'd be happy again. But maybe everyone else needed time to forget… they all seemed a little hung-up on what had happened._

_This was different, this was better. This was a new start in a sense. So Inuyasha inhaled deeply and let it out in a rush before plonking himself down in front of the playstation and started up his favourite game._

_It couldn't have been more than ten minutes game-play before his mother barged in through the door. "There you are! I was worried sick about you – I didn't know where you were!"_

_Inuyasha carried on playing. Already he was tired of his mother's attention. Something he didn't used to ever tire of, but now it came to him naturally. His mother hovered in the doorway awkwardly for a minute or so before eventually she shut the door and came forward._

_"You're not… angry with me are you?" she asked uncertainly._

_"No." he shrugged. It wasn't her fault after all._

_"They told your father they would kill you if we went to police…" his mother went on awkwardly. "We didn't know what to do… or where to find you."_

_Inuyasha paused the game and look up at his mother. She looked back at him, expecting him to say something before realising he was expecting the same thing from her. She sat down nervously at the end of the bed. "You can always talk to me… you know." She told him quietly. "About what happened. The police want to talk to you in a few days… and you'll feel better to get it off your chest with me first. You don't have to be brave… you can cry if you want."_

_"I don't want to." He frowned and squirmed his good shoulder in a way to show his reluctance. "I don't want to talk about it."_

_"That's ok." She said quickly. "If you don't want to talk about it that's fine. We can just keep it to ourselves. We don't have to tell the press or anything. I think that might be too much for you."_

_Inuyasha nodded numbly. The feeling of being home still hadn't really sunk in yet. Maybe he would talk to her later, but for now he needed to adjust to the change in scenery._

_"Well…" his mother stood shortly, clasping and unclasping her fingers like she did when she was nervous. "I'll have cook make you your favourite food. Fish fingers… you like those, don't you?"_

_"Mm." He nodded. Although he didn't really feel very hungry, despite not having eaten in days. The last thing he'd eaten had been bacon rinds._

_"Good." She smiled briefly and falsely before stooping down and kissing him on the forehead. "I forgot how cute you were, son." She whispered, earning a slight, uneasy smile from him._

_She went back to the door and he un-paused the game and continued beating up the bad guys. Out of the corner of his eye he saw his mother stop and look back at him, her gaze lingering on him and making him uncomfortable. But after a moment she sighed and left, leaving Inuyasha to concentrated freely on his game._

~~~~

Life had basically deteriorated after that. He told the police the same thing he told his mother – nothing. They hadn't liked it but they had soon put the case away and had left them alone.

Inuyasha got into more arguments with his parents and deliberately began sneaking away with Miroku to join his school friends. He was smoking before his eleventh birthday and drugs had followed only a few years later.

Life was a mess for him…

And perhaps he would have just sat there in that cold junk room and stayed until he was torture to death if it hadn't been for the girl sleeping beside him. She was clean and free and happy… she wasn't messed up and she had much more to live for than him. She had people she loved and who loved her back. The world would miss her more than it would him…

For Kagome's life he would move a mountain. His own life was worthless and superficial. She mattered… and that was a simple enough excuse to get him to his feet.

AN: No more flashbacks from now on. Awwww…. But don't worry! There's so much more present day mental anguish to go! ^__^;;


	26. Love Lift Us Up

**Authors Notes: Ok, first of all I'd like to issue a small warning.**

**This:**

"I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR AN UPDATE FROM YOU FOR LIKE YEARS! THANK YOU FINALLY FOR UPDATING...BUT CAN YOU UPDATE TOMORROW? TODAY? NOW?! IT'S SO SAD! POOR INUYASHA AND KAGOME! BUT EVEN WORSE...ARGH...INUYASHA! POOR GUY! UPDATE NOW! PLEASE!"

**And this:**

"I hate you know you dont know how much i do. anywayz good chappie ..."

**And this:**

_"I hate you, i hate you, i hate you, i hate you, I hate you, I hate koga, i hate koga, i hate koga, i hate urami, i hate urami, i hate urami, i hate urami, i hate urami, i hate koga, i hate koga, i hate you. man your mean sometimes i think you do things i hate just to make me pissed off."_

**Or this:**

"good story so far...UPDATE YOU STUPIDHEAD!"

**And even this:**

"GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP AND WRITE THE REST gosh take your time will you"

Is NOT how to review. When I read reviews like this I wonder why I bother writing the story if that is the kind of reaction I get. THESE are the types of reviews that keep making me as reviewers to be a little politer. I really don't mind if you leave a civil review with a little "hope you update soon!" at the end – that is appreciated. The ones above are not.

Simple.

Don't leave reviews like that. You know who you are and you've been warned.

(Ooh, I sound so scary! ^_^ Wait… I've ruined it now…)

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 26**

**Love Lift Us Up**

Kagome sighed sleepily as she roused from her deep slumber. She reached out a half-awake hand to find Inuyasha – he should only have been a foot away. But her hand landed on cold concrete, and nothing else.

Now that was odd… Kagome frowned slightly as she opened her eyes a little to look at her hand. Where was Inuyasha? The cuffs that had joined their hands together was now cut neatly across the chain, leaving her with one half dangling around her wrist. The other half was gone.

"Inuyasha?" she tried sitting up, but she didn't quite seem to have the energy. So instead she rolled over limply and spotted a fuzzy blur on the other side of the room. She knew it was Inuyasha from the big, white blob of hair. "Whatcha doin'?" she murmured, a croak in her voice. 

"Making a bomb."

"Oh good." She closed her eyes, not really having listened, and dropped her head back down. "I'm over here if you need me…" she drifted off back to sleep.

Inuyasha wasn't sure how much time they had left. The sun was already starting to creep towards the horizon to break dawn. The sky was beginning to lighten up, leaving him only an hour or so before Fushira awoke, and decided to start a brand new day of torture. That man was sick…

And with the last dose of tranquilliser still remaining in his system, he didn't know how much he could do physically to get himself out of there… so perhaps he needed a little bit of help. Judging by the movement downstairs and the different voices, he could guess that there were at least thirteen people in the house.

Thirteen people against one hanyou was a fair enough match on a good day… but today he barely felt strong enough to fend off one man, let alone Fushira Hashimoto. What he needed was a distraction.

That was where the bomb came in.

The empty water bottles wound up making their use, along with the batteries from the old radio. Jinko would have to find some other way to dye her roots, since Inuyasha would be using all her peroxide. He tipped it all into the water bottles, and began working on opening the batteries by slitting his claws down the middle. It was dangerous, and more than once he got sprayed with a little acid, but he had no time to mope and whine, so he bore it and used the end of a rusty spoon to scrape out the black sticky stuff inside.

The last time he'd tried to do this was when he was ten… he'd nearly lost his hand in the process (a body part which didn't grow back). He knew to be more careful this time… now if only he could remember exactly how it worked…

If memory served him, he was supposed to leave the black stuff from the batteries to dry, but he didn't have time for that. He needed out _now_!

He quickly glanced over at Kagome, who still slept on obliviously. She was still cuffed to the pole, so he quickly went over and cut her loose, rolling her onto her side so he could pick her up in a hurry if need be. Then he went to the window, and stooped to peer out of the gaps in the broken glass. To his surprise, he saw a lake. Saltwater by the smell of it… he'd assumed that the salty smell had been Kagome since she'd been abducted by way of the sea, so it was logical. But perhaps her boat had arrived at this lakeside, cabin-like building from across the lake that was outlet into the sea.

He spotted the boat a few hundred yards away and decided that it was their best chance of escape. There were no other boats around to follow them, and even a car wouldn't be able to go where a boat could, no matter how fast it travelled.

With the escape route formed, he headed back over to the workbench. He couldn't waste any more time.

The batteries, sticky black stuff, and spoon were dumped straight into the water bottle of hair dye. He quickly screwed on the lid and hurried to the window. He only had a few seconds.

It was difficult manoeuvring his arm through the gaps in the window, and it cut through his shirt into the skin in several different places. But his reward was the nice, meaty bang it made when it hit the hard ground below. Not exactly atomic bomb material, but it sounded enough like a gunshot to the people downstairs. Inuyasha heard them all drop what they were doing and scurry off outside… Leaving the way clear for Inuyasha to get Kagome to a safer hiding place in the building. 

Quickly, he withdrew his arm before someone below saw, and ran to Kagome's side. She grunted a slight protest in her sleep as he lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder, but stayed limp and unconscious as he made his way to the door. As he predicted, everyone had gone outside to check out the noise, meaning no one was there to guard him and Kagome.

Inuyasha was at a loss for which way to go. Downstairs seemed to be the most sensible bet. With everyone outside, he could find the back door maybe. He held his breath as the stairs squeaked when he descended, and it was only then that he realised how hard his heart was beating.

But it even began picking up its tempo when he heard someone stomp back through the front door just as he reached the bottom step. It was too late to run back up – he'd be heard, and there was no place to hide in the large room that the stairs had led him to. So he quickly, and silently, headed further into the back of the house, away from the sound of those footsteps. He desperately tried to find a place to hide himself and Kagome…

The heavy boots stomped across the hallway floor, accompanied by some bitter grumbling. Fushira was back again, and if Inuyasha didn't find a place to hide, he would be seen. He dived towards the nearest door, and found himself in a cloakroom of sorts. Hurriedly, he let Kagome slide to the floor, and tugged down a light blue coat to drape over her. It was probably Jinko's, but he'd rather it was her's than Fushira's.

Now he had to go face the music.

Inuyasha stepped quietly out of the cloakroom and shut the door slowly behind him, listening intently to where Fushira might have been. When he heard the man's footsteps on the stairs, he realised that Fushira was going upstairs… and would no doubt discover in a few seconds that his captives had broken free. The real hell would start then.

Inuyasha quickly began hunting around for something to defend himself with. He would normally have depended on his fists, but this time his fists weren't quite up to scratch, in a manner of speaking.

He re-entered the large room where the stairs started, just in time to hear a bellow of anger and frustration emanate from upstairs. Inuyasha's heart was doing flip-flops again. He was convinced he was screwed… this was the day he was going to die.

And then his desperate gaze landed on the revolver. It was old, black and scratched, much like the one he'd confiscated off the fake driver at the limo incident. Three bullets lay beside it on the table against the wall, just begging to be picked up.

There was no sense in letting them go to waste…

He quickly ran over and scrambled to get the bullets loaded, painfully aware of Fushira's thundering steps running down the hall upstairs, checking in every room for his victims. Inuyasha hastily snapped the gun's semi-loaded cylinder back into place, and dashed to hide under the stairs…

Just in time… for Fushira Hashimoto chose that moment to come blundering down them at full throttle. Inuyasha had never seen him so mad. He swallowed hard and clasped the gun tightly in his hand.

Fushira immediately resumed his hunt, looking under obvious places like the sofa, the table, and in the small cupboard beside the Tv. He was steadily heading in the direction of the cloakroom where Kagome lay sleeping.

Inuyasha couldn't allow him to find her. He quietly stepped out of his hiding place under the stairs and followed Hashimoto, raising the handgun unsteadily as he moved forward. Fushira, for his part, was oblivious to the danger he was in, and went on scouring the place. He thumped into the hall and started opening and shutting doors to every room in his search. Inuyasha followed silently, steeling himself.

_Shoot him, shoot him, you idiot… _he reprimanded himself. Fushira was getting closer to Kagome's hide-out; he was only two doors away now.

But it was beneath Inuyasha to shoot someone in the back… it was beneath him to shoot anyone, period. Back when Fushira's man had killed his driver on that roadside, he'd considered killing him for a split second… but only for that split second. He'd shoved that thought aside in favour of just scaring him shitless…

But now…?

Fushira's hand was reaching for the cloakroom door. If Inuyasha didn't act, Kagome would be in danger.

For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to squeeze the trigger…

But at that crucial moment, as Fushira jerked the handle down, Inuyasha's thumb slipped on the safety hammer with an audible click. Hashimoto whirled around to face him… and Inuyasha reacted out of pure fright.

He didn't hear the sound of the shot when he pulled the trigger, but he saw Hashimoto jerk back as the bullet impacted his chest. The man just stared in stunned surprise at Inuyasha… but he still remained standing.

Inuyasha's face twisted into a grimace as he pulled the trigger again, and then again. He pulled again, but he was out of bullets. His fingers went numb, and the gun dropped from his hands, hitting the floor only a few seconds before Hashimoto did.

Inuyasha stared at him in dumb silence. He was sprawled out on the floor, probably dead before he'd hit the boards. His eyes had already glazed over, and his mouth hung open.

That infinitely shocked expression would remain on his face forever. 

Inuyasha couldn't move.

People were coming. They'd heard the gunshots and were coming to see what had happened. Jinko's scream was enough to rip him out of his daze, and he blinked up at the kitchen door to see her standing there with her hands clasped over her mouth, shaking with tears. The men behind her were too stumped to make a move.

How long were they supposed to stand like this… across the man he'd just killed?

No… he had to get out of here. 

He made a grab for the fallen gun, and levelled it at Jinko's group across the hall. "Get on the floor or I shoot!" he sounded braver than he felt.

No one moved.

"I said, lie down!" Inuyasha repeated in a louder voice. It was a bluff – he had no more bullets, but maybe they didn't know that.

They only took a moment's more hesitation before they began sinking to their knees before they lay down completely, hands clasped over their heads. Only Jinko remained standing. Inuyasha turned the gun on her. The last person in the world to be trusted was that woman – she was unpredictable at the best of times. "Lie down." He told her.

She ignored him. Her eyes were only on Fushira, and tears were visibly running down her cheeks now. She stumbled a few steps forward, alarming him, but all she did was fall onto her knees beside the dead man and continue crying, touching his face.

She really loved him, didn't she?

Inuyasha watched her, unnerved for a moment, before edging around her and Fushira to the cloakroom door. With one hand, he twisted the handle down and, while keeping the gun trained on Jinko, he bent down. Scooping an arm under the unconscious Kagome, he gently lifted her up onto his shoulder. She seemed unusually heavy in his weakened state, but he put that down to all the doughnuts she'd consumed last night.

He left Jinko sobbing over Fushira's body, and carefully stepped over the prone men at the entrance of the kitchen. There was the back door, open and beckoning freedom. He cast one look back at the motionless gang members – and a broken-hearted Jinko – before slipping out the door.

How long did he have before they leapt up, grabbed their weapons, and came after him? Inuyasha didn't want to think about it, so he broke into a run… though he had the odd feeling that he didn't know how to stop. The lake was opened up before him, and the boat was still in its moorings on the shore. He raced towards it, dropping the gun in his haste and pulling Kagome down from his shoulder and into his arms. He didn't mean to be so rough, but he really was in a hurry.

The moment he reached the boat, he dumped Kagome inside and pushed it away from the shore, not caring that he was wading hip-deep into muddy lake water fully dressed.

A shout sounded behind him, but he didn't waste time to look over his shoulder. He concentrated on pulling himself over the wooden rim of the boat and grabbing the pull-string on the engine. It revved, but didn't start.

Gunshots sounded not far behind him, and he felt a bullet whiz by his ear, skimming his hair. He still kept his focus on the engine, determined to get it started.

"Come on… _come on!" he whispered frantically, as if that would convince it to get going._

On the seventh pull, it finally caught, and the engine roared to life. _Finally! He mentally gasped with exasperation, and caught hold of the rubber bar with both hands to steer it._

Another gunshot sounded, this time from the shore only a few metres away. A pain stabbed through his shoulder and lodged there. Inuyasha grimaced, but clung onto the rudder, determined to get them out of there.

It was sheer luck that none of the bullets hit the engine, or blew a nasty hole in the side of the boat. The idiots seemed more intent on shooting Inuyasha than his getaway vehicle. Kagome remained safe from fire, sheltered as she was under the seats.

Inuyasha more or less followed his nose, heading where the lake led in an effort to find the open sea, and the way back to his villa. When he was a good distance away, he finally looked back over his shoulder and saw the shrinking figures of the men on the shore. He was out of range of their guns now, and they knew it… some knew they'd been had, and were heading for the cars.

Too bad Inuyasha had already made a note of their license plate numbers. 

"Don't touch that frog!"

Inuyasha jerked his gaze sharply to Kagome, who was thrashing wildly in her seat. "Or the lamb burgers…" she trailed off and calmed down, but had somehow levered her arm over the rim of the boat. Her hand dangled down over the edge with her fingers nearly skimming the water.

Inuyasha sighed, and gently nudged his foot under her elbow, bringing the renegade hand back into the boat. His shoulder ached badly, and he felt cold and numb.

But that was nothing compared to the misery his conscience was in.

He'd actually killed a man…

~*~

"The police didn't find anything at the old warehouse." Miroku informed Kikyo as he entered her office. "If that was where they kept him last time, they've changed location."

"Not surprising." Kikyo passed a hand over her cheek as she leant back in her chair and considered. "Kagome's been gone a day now. Inuyasha nearly as long… how is it that he was kidnapped in broad daylight, but no one noticed?"

Miroku sighed and slid into the chair opposite her desk. "Sango's freaking out… Mrs Higurashi even more so – she's been on the phone twice so far asking for news. Cook won't stop crying, and Sesshomaru seems intent on lodging here because his wife just kicked him out… though why he insisted on bringing Rin…"

Kikyo regarded her lamp silently.

They sat in contemplative silence for a while, before Miroku sighed. "I don't understand why this has happened again…"

Kikyo glanced up at the ceiling. "Well, last time he was tortured for three months straight. I'm guessing that if this is indeed the same group of people as before, they intend to do the same thing… though I still don't know their motives."

Miroku gave Kikyo a disparaging look. He didn't like the way she talked so coldly about these things. She talked about torture like she talked about ice cream – with hardly any emotion or compassion at all. But he supposed he couldn't blame her… that was Kikyo's way after all. "Do you think we did the right thing, informing the police?" he asked her.

Kikyo hesitated before nodding. "Last time they said they would execute him if anyone was told… they gave us no such threat this time. It's fair game."

Miroku frowned. "If you're wrong about that, I'll-"

"Something suspicious was going on in 1992. Something which isn't happening now… something's different about this kidnapping." Kikyo said shortly, frowning in thought. "I just wish I knew how to find him…"

Miroku stared at her. "He has Kagome with him. I'm sure if they stop being so stubborn and put their heads together for once, they can figure things out."

"They're still just teenagers, Miroku." Kikyo admonished.

"So you think they'll do nothing?" he challenged.

"I'm just telling you not to get you hopes up too high on silly whims." She shrugged before leaning forward to shuffle through her paperwork. "You can go back to work now. I need to focus."

Miroku sighed and rolled his eyes, but stood anyway and stomped out of the room. Kikyo could be such an cold ass sometimes. He glanced back at her when he reached the doorway and stopped dead.

She was crying.

Not big sobbing tears, that wasn't the Kikyo way. But he was certain he'd just heard her sniff, and swipe the back of her hand across her eyes. "Kikyo… why are you-"

She clapped a heart-stopping glare on him, but its frostiness was diffused by the tears swimming in her eyes. "Keep walking." She snapped.

"Walking." He  concurred, and swiftly pivoted on his heel to walk out again. 

_Wait till Sango hears about this!_

~*~

"Dammit!" Inuyasha spat as he kicked the lifeless engine of the motorboat. "How come you work for the bad guys and not for me?! Asshole!" He kicked it again for good measure.

But taking out his anger on the engine was only wearing him out, and decreasing the chances of him getting it to work again. He took a deliberately deep breath to calm himself, and moved his stiff arm a little to keep the feeling in it.

He'd landed the boat on a rocky beach. It was empty, and quiet, and there wasn't a sign of human life anywhere. He had no idea where he was in relation to the villa, and he knew that he had to hurry. He needed to find a house, or a phone box to call the police or someone at the villa to come and get him. They needed to apprehend the kidnappers he'd left back at the lakeside cabin before they made their getaway.

But the only promising thing he could see was the grey tarmac road up the slope above the beach. Maybe if he was lucky, a car would come along and he'd be able to hitchhike.

With another put-out sigh, he reached down and gently eased Kagome out of the bottom of the boat, putting her weight on his good arm. It was still a painful move, and his shoulder screamed in agony, but he just gritted his teeth and bore it. It wasn't like he could leave her behind. As if his conscience wasn't in enough trouble as it was…

"Come on… you doughnut-eating whale…" he gasped as he balanced her on his good shoulder, and clamped his arm over the backs of her thighs to hold her in place. He assessed which way up the slope would be the easiest, and then continued on his journey back home.

Kagome flexed slightly in her sleep. "No… don't…"

He ignored her. She was quite a chatterbox when she slept, and she'd been groaning out negative words ever since they'd left the lakeside.

"…not… the handle…"

"She's probably clinically insane." He told himself aloud as he began the arduous task of climbing up a slope with a seven stone broad over one shoulder. "Then again, so are you. You're talking to yourself."

Somehow, after only a couple of stumbles, he managed to reach the summit, and staggered onto the hard surface of the road. He paused for a minute or two, looking up and down it in the hopes that someone would come by…

But he couldn't even hear the distant sound of an engine. He was miles from anywhere.

"Shit…" he muttered, disheartened.

Well… if he was miles from anywhere, it was probably a good idea to keep moving while he still had the strength. The bullet in his shoulder was going to fell him if he didn't get some medical attention within the next few hours.

Kagome continued to sleep talk… only now it seemed like she was sleep-singing. "…love lift us up… where we belong…"

"Oh dear god." He didn't know how much more he could take of this. Why had she felt it so necessary to eat both doughnuts? It would certainly have saved him a lot of trouble if she was awake enough to carry her own weight and _not sing at the same time._

Although… if she hadn't eaten that drugged food, he probably wouldn't have had the strength to be walking where he was now. He'd still be sitting in that dinky old junk room with her.

Actually, no, he wouldn't have been.

Inuyasha glanced reproachfully towards the sun that had now risen a good distance from the ocean horizon. If he was still back with Fushira, he would have been sitting in that _chair having his teeth pulled out._

Kagome was a blessing in disguise. 

"Where eagles fly… over mountains…"

She'd be more of a blessing if she could sing in tune, though. But he couldn't help himself. "Love lift us up where we belong." He sang gently, more to himself.

"Far… from the world below…"

"Up where the clear winds blow." When Kagome didn't follow up he simply continued on his own with a slight smile. "Time goes by, no time to cry… just you and I… alone…"

He trailed off, losing the smile as he was swallowed up in his own thoughts for a moment. But he finally smirked slightly and shook his head to rid himself of his thoughts. "Just you and me now, girl." He smirked. "No one to stop me from taking advantage of you if I so… wished…"

He lost that train of speech as his ears caught a distant, but unmistakable sound.

Someone was approaching in a car.

Inuyasha quickly turned and looked back up the road he'd been walking down. A small speck was gradually gaining size as the vehicle toddled closer at an agonisingly slow pace. Inuyasha stayed where he was, waiting… and waiting… and tapping his foot with impatience.

Dear god, what a slow driver.

But eventually, it approached close enough for him to see the driver. It was a middle aged woman with a load of shopping bags in the passenger seat beside her. Not much of a threat, so he quickly raised his pained arm and waved.

She began slowing down until she rolled to a complete stop beside him.

The window wound down, and the woman poked her head out with narrowed eyes. "You two kids aren't up to anything kinky, now are you?" she quizzed.

"No, Madame Speed Demon." He jerked a thumb at himself. "My name's Inuyasha, and this is Kagome Higurashi…"

"…just like star trek…" greeted Kagome.

"And we just got kidnapped." Inuyasha continued to explain. "But now we've escaped, and we'd really appreciate it if you could take us to the nearest phone box or police station."

"Or your mansion perhaps?" Was that sarcasm in her voice?

"What, you don't believe me?" Inuyasha scowled at her.

"Oh no, I do. I recognise you, too!" the woman shrugged. "My daughter has your pin-up above her bed. You're much paler in real life, you know."

"Will you give us a ride then?" Inuyasha asked.

"Hop in." she gestured to the back seat. "I'll take you back to your villa. It's only five miles up the road."

"Oh…" Closer than he'd thought. He opened up the back door of the old car and put Kagome inside before crawling in beside her.

"Try not to bleed over my upholstery." The woman warned. "I only just cleaned this thing."

"Really? You can hardly tell." But he said it so pleasantly that it just bounced off her like water off a duck's back. Obviously, this was a woman who didn't pick up insults very well.

And she was still an annoyingly slow driver, even despite the fact that she was carrying a gunshot victim and an unconscious girl. As well as lacking in an insult radar, she also lacked a sense of urgency.

But at least it gave Inuyasha time to catch his breath, and recover from the exertion he'd put his body through. He let his head fall back against the head rest and slept most of the journey.

The villa was only just coming into view when he woke up again. The moment he spotted it, he felt a surge of relief. He sat up quickly and watched it eagerly. But his movement caused Kagome to stir, and she grunted slightly as she began to regain consciousness.

He turned to glance back at her as she blinked open a sleepy set of eyes. "You ok?" he asked.

She stifled a yawn with the back of her hand as she nodded. "I had the weirdest dream…" she scratched her head. "I dreamt that we were all living on this space ship, and that aliens were invading the ship, and they sort of looked like the orcs out of Lord of the Rings, but with ray guns… and then we found out that the only way to defeat them was to sing "Love lift us up" in out of tune voices."

A smile quirked his lips. "Really?"

"And you were there." She told him. "You're a terribly good singer in my dreams."

"I'm a terribly good singer in real life, too."

She shook her head. "No, I heard you in the shower last week. No one can slaughter a Madonna song like you can… like a virgin my arse…" she stopped as she finally noticed the woman driving the car, and then the car that they were sitting in. "Uh… where are we?"

"Near the villa."

Her face brightened with a sleepy smile. "We escaped then?"

He nodded.

She grinned even wider. "I knew you could do it." She closed her eyes and sighed as she rested her head on his good shoulder. "I told you so…"

Inuyasha smiled grimly. She probably wouldn't be so chipper if she knew what measures he'd taken to get them out of there in the first place…

AN: If you haven't noticed from the lack of errors I now have a beta reader, who I'd like to thank profusely. Thanks Aithril! You've saved me from all the readers who have pet peeves about grammar and spelling! (You've saved them too ^__^)


	27. Gaining Equilibrium

**Author****'****s Notes: I'd just like to thank everyone again. I know that with me complaining about a couple of flamers it makes me sounds ungrateful and paranoid, but I really do appreciate everyone's feedback. I haven't forgotten that 99.9% of you guys are wonderful people and I'm honoured at getting 5,0 reviews! Let me go pass out now…**

Oh, but before I enter a state of unconsciousness, let me just point out to a few people that Dead Famous isn't _the _original superstar/fangirl storyline. There are hundreds of stories that came before this and hundreds that will come after it that will all have the basic fundamental plotline: One guy/girl who's better than everyone else and another guy/girl who's not quite as good come together to make a story… and later on babies, but that's getting into a whole different territory. I don't claim to own exclusive rights to the concept since this idea has been done to death and even them some (Check out "A Date with Tad Hamilton" if you want further proof). So basically, the point I'm trying to get across is that Dead Famous isn't plagiarising anyone or any fic, and anyone else with the previously mentioned concept is not plagiarising me either. If someone has copied me scene for scene (rewritten/copied & pasted) that is plagiarism – but otherwise it's just an author giving the superstar/fangirl idea a new twist, just like I've done. False accusations of plagiarism don't go down well… so I caution people before they jump to conclusions. Always make sure you do your research before deciding whether or not someone has plagiarised – or better yet, go to the original author and let them handle it.

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 27**

**Gaining Equilibrium**

"Hiko. I'm going to ask you a question, and I want you to think very carefully about how you answer." Sesshomaru addressed the son who sat between his two brothers on the living room couch. He waited until the little boy had nodded before going on. "Why did you super-glue the casserole pot to your brother's head?"

Hiko glanced reproachfully at his handicapped brother beside him, who in turn swung to look at him… or would have, if the sides of the casserole pot had been transparent. As it was, the only sure way to know which direction he was looking in was to judge which way the pot's handle pointed.

Hiko directed his eyes to his father again. The casserole pot handle did the same. "Um…" he said warily. "I thought… it would be funny?"

"I'm not laughing." Sesshomaru told him. "Are you laughing, Jiro?"

The handle squeaked slightly as it moved from side to side. The last triplet raised his hand cautiously. "I laughed a little…"

"No one's asking you, Mo." his father said bluntly.

"Oh." He looked away, crestfallen.

"Hiko." Sesshomaru turned a condescending look on the central triplet. "You were born second of the three. You have been saved from the impatient foolishness of being the eldest and the naïveté of being the youngest. Yet you have been expelled from all seven schools I've sent you to. You continually blow up your mother's microwaves. You still try to put the cat in the washing machine, and I can't leave you out in the pool with your brothers for more than one moment alone before you start trying to drown them both simultaneously."

Hiko stared at his father.

"I'm going to ask you another question, Hiko." Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Why…?" Hiko echoed.

"Why do you do these destructive, disobedient things?" his father clarified.

"Well," Hiko looked down at the floor. "If I'm totally honest, Dad… it's because of you."

It was Sesshomaru's turn to stare at his son blankly. "What?"

"Your cold, discontented nature, and your detachment from the people around you negatively affect said people." Hiko explained slowly. "Between two brothers who share my status and appearance, I have to vie for your attention and affection, and the only way to do that is that be more disobedient and ruthless than my brothers. And it's not just me either, Dad."

 "Oh?"

"Your lack of enthusiasm, care, and affection towards your family affects us all, crushing our young, fragile spirits and diminishing our self-esteem little by little every day. We're all dealing with it in different ways. Mom treats you the same way you treat her, and refuses to accept responsibility for her children and her duties as a wife. Big brother deals with it by moving to the opposite side of the country to get away from you. I cover up my pain with humour and disobedience. Jiro deals by withdrawing into a shell, making him seem callous and uncaring about how his words affect us. Mo deals by pandering to your every wish, in hopes that you'll notice his obedience as compared to my disobedience and Jiro's apathy."

Silence stretched.

"And…" Hiko added. "The irony of it is that we all know what's going on… except you, who is the source of it."

Sesshomaru finally drew himself up. "Really?"

Hiko and Mo nodded. Jiro's pot handle wobbled up and down.

"I see." Without further ado, Sesshomaru stood and left the room, leaving the boys to sort out the problem with the casserole pot.

Jiro's handle jerked sharply towards Hiko, who ducked to avoid getting hit. "Is that what's going on?" He sounded surprised… in an echoed sort of way.

"Nah.." Hiko shrugged. "Saw it on some documentary about fathers last night…"

"Hey! Three stooges!"

Only one person called them by that nickname. The triplets swivelled eagerly to look towards the white French windows behind them.

Inuyasha stood there looking very bedraggled and wretched with a slightly less bedraggled Kagome draped over one shoulder. He rapped on the glass again. "Let me in!"

"Is that Uncle Inu?" one triplet mumbled from under his pot.

"Wasn't he just kidnapped?" another said.

"Maybe he's a look-alike coming to kidnap us next." the third said finally.

Inuyasha hammered on the glass more meaningfully. "Today would be nice!" he yelled.

"Sure sounds like Uncle Inu." Hiko pondered. "I think we should send Jiro to open the door… he has the head gear just in case he decides to punch him."

"Fair enough…" Jiro mumbled again as he slid off the sofa and headed in the vague direction of the French windows. "A little to the left, Jiro! The right! No – the other right! Left! Left!" Of course, none of the triplets knew their left from right anyway, so it was a case of the blind leading the blind. Eventually it became evident that Jiro wasn't going to find the window, and Inuyasha was beginning to look very impatient… and angry.

The last two triplets left Jiro to his search as they went over and opened the door for their uncle. "Weren't you kidnapped?" they asked.

"Yes." He said simply as he scooted past them quickly and headed for the sofa they'd just vacated.

"So you broke free?" They trailed after him.

"Gunfights, swearing, motor boats and car chases… the works." He said grimly, laying an unconscious Kagome down on the sofa.

"Cool!" the triplets chorused behind him. Jiro the pot-head finally found his way back to his brothers.

"Look, I even got shot as well." Their uncle pointed to his arm.

"COOL!"

Inuyasha frowned as he finally noticed Jiro's head-gear. "What's up with the… casserole pot?" he asked hesitantly and reached out to tug it off.

"Ow!"

"Oh… sorry…" Inuyasha pulled his hand back, looking sceptically at the boys. "Where's Kikyo?"

"Around…" They shrugged elusively until one of them got a glint in his eye. "I bet you don't know yet, do you?"

"Know what?" Inuyasha looked down at the boy passively, trying to work out which one he was talking to.

The other pot-free triplet took up the story thread. "Apparently, she burst into tears in Miroku's arms because she felt bad about you getting kidnapped."

Inuyasha snorted and shook his head. "Whatever. Keep an eye on Kagome. I need to go talk with my agent." He headed for the door, leaving the schoolgirl in the company of the three spawn of Satan (no offence to Sesshomaru).

"Do you think we could sell her on E-bay?" Hiro asked his brothers.

~*~

Kikyo paused in her paper-work to eye her watch impatiently. An irritated sigh escaped her lips and she rapped her nails against the desk. The new detective should have turned up by now… she had a meeting to attend in half an hour and if that guy didn't show up within the next five minutes, she would be leaving without him. 

With a frown she turned her gaze to her papers and went back to concentrating on her work.

A knock sounded on her office door.

She glanced up a moment, mentally rolling her eyes at the detective's lateness before looking down at her work again. "Come in."

Intimidation technique rule number one: make eye contact only when _you _decide. Kikyo kept her eyes fixed on her work as the man entered and moved to sit in the chair opposite her. A tangy scent lodged in her airways… was that… was that seaweed? She wrinkled her nose but decided not to comment on it.

"Glad you could make it." She said drolly before slowly raising her gaze from her desk to look at him.

She froze.

Inuyasha raised a hand in the typical 'Hey' greeting. He didn't smile. He looked tired and dirty, and his ripped up shirt sleeve was stained a dark, rusty red. "So am I." He eventually said in return to her greeting.

"What the hell happened to you?" She narrowed her eyes, wondering if he even _had been kidnapped. Maybe he'd just spent the last day or so in at some doped-up student party?_

"Well… in a nutshell…" he began carefully. "I was kidnapped-"

"And Kagome?" Kikyo asked quickly.

"I brought her back too."

"So you escaped?"

"Can I tell the middle of the story first before jumping right to the end?" he asked rhetorically. She backed off and he continued. "So we got kidnapped. Kagome ate the drugged food… we escaped. The end."

"Who did it? It was Jinko Aida, wasn't it?" Kikyo demanded. "Wasn't it?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Get the police out. Tell them to find a salt water lake about six or seven miles south down the coast. If the kidnappers aren't there then I'll write down the license plates of the cars they used. The police can probably find them that way…"

_You__'__re still not going to talk about it… Kikyo inwardly sighed. "Naturally. I hope Kagome's in one piece."_

"They didn't touch her." He shrugged with one shoulder again.

"And what about you?"

"I didn't touch her either." He darted his eyes to the side and then back again. "Much."

"No – I meant; did they hurt you?"

He shrugged once more, gesturing mildly to his bleeding limb. "Decide for yourself."

Kikyo was already reaching for the phone to call the police. "And what about Fushira Hashimoto? Was he involved?"

Inuyasha stared at her blankly for a long moment. Kikyo paused halfway through dialling to regard him. She waited for him to respond.

"I killed him."

Kikyo slowly set the phone back down in its cradle. She didn't bother with the obvious questions anyone would ask when confronted with a statement like that. This was serious - there was no time to beat around the bush. "Tell me it was in self-defence."

Inuyasha shook his head very slightly. "Crept up on him and shot him three times."

"He was armed… wasn't he?" Dread began seeping over her.

"No. Harmless."

_Shit… "Were there any witnesses?"_

"About thirteen of them… none will be voting in my favour." He glanced down at the elephant shaped paperweight on her desk. "I'm in trouble, aren't I?" he said softly. It was a statement more than a question.

Kikyo could already see that the silly boy was going to let it go to his head. "No. _You__'__re the victim here, not that man. With a little bit of twisting, we can make this sound like self-defence. He came at you with a knife so you had to shoot him in order to save yourself – no court in the world will believe what a bunch of kidnappers say about a murder like that. The law's on our side this-"_

"This time?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes. "Is this all we do…? Just lie… scam… advertise, and hope that no one exposes us? Maybe it's time we stop lying about everything. We've never been honest or truthful to anyone."

Kikyo stared at him. "We can tell the truth next time, Inuyasha. But this time, a little white lie is needed. We can't let the court put you away for murder – not when you're the victim."

"You keep saying 'victim' as though I'm some helpless rape victim or something…" He rolled his eyes, but he didn't bother pushing the subject.

Kikyo took the phone back up in her hand. "I'll be damned if I let Hashimoto lord it over you even after his death…" She began dialling. "Go find Sango – she'll clean up your arm.… Hello, police?"

~*~

"Six hundred!"

"No – five hundred!"

"I say five hundred and _fifty!!"_

Kagome blinked her eyes open slowly, taking in the patterns of the ceiling tiles before hearing the voices arguing around her. She frowned slightly at all the numbers being shouted then carefully lifted her hazy head. "What… what's going on…?"

Two identical faces and a casserole pot snapped towards her. "Oh, you're awake!" the pot said.

Kagome had to blink a few more times to clear away the fuzzy edge around her vision… but even then, all she saw was an upside down pot. "Huh…?"

"We were just discussing how much we could sell you for on E-bay." One of the triplets told her. "About six hundred yen, I'd say."

"_Five hundred!" his brother hissed dangerously._

"Five-fifty!"

That was barely enough to cover Kagome's weekly pocket money. Should she be offended…?

"Kagome!"

Obviously, she wasn't in the sharpest of moods; since by the time she realised someone had called her name from the doorway, they'd already arrived at her side. She peered up at Sango's face – a mixture of relief and concern filled the girl's expression. "Inuyasha told me I'd find you in here – are you ok? Did you hit your head?"

"No… just ate too many doughnuts." Kagome rubbed her head vaguely, wondering when that endlessly sleepy feeling would actually end. She felt like she'd been asleep for a few hundred years and was only just beginning to wake up.

"You should probably go lie down in your room. I'll call a doctor."

"Oh, there's nothing wrong!" Kagome slurred slightly. "I just had a lot of tranquillisers… and then this alien shot me with a ray gun… but I'm all right now."

"Of course you are." Sango said in the way that a mother spoke when her child had professed to being Superman.

Kagome's head spun as Sango helped her to her feet, so she decided that maybe she did need to lie down for a little while on a proper bed. They left the arguing triplets behind as they slowly made their way through the villa corridors to the elevator.

"I'm going to ring your mother and tell her you're back safely. " Sango informed her as they rode the elevator up.

"Oh good," Kagome sighed in relief. "I was worried about her."

Sango snorted. "That's nothing compared to how worried she was about you."

Once the elevator had stopped at the second floor, Sango carefully led Kagome to her bedroom door and unlocked it with her master key-card. "Just take it easy for a while." She told the younger girl as Kagome sat down on the bed. "You've been through a lot…"

"Not much… wasn't awake for the interesting parts." Kagome really couldn't remember much after eating the doughnuts.

"Are you sure you're ok?" Sango pressed. "They didn't hurt you or anything, did they?"

"No." Kagome shook her head assuredly. "Inuyasha got us out before anything happened…"

"Well the police are on their way to that cabin you were being held at. Hopefully those scumbags will get what they deserve." Sango said fiercely.

Kagome smiled weakly at her protectiveness. "Thanks, Sango…"

"Just have a little sleep." Sango smoothed her hair. "I'll come by and wake you up for lunch if you're up to it."

"Sounds good."

Sango smiled and headed for the door. "Glad you're back, Kagome."

"Me too." Kagome said quietly to herself  as the door snapped shut again.

For a while, she sat on the bed contemplating on what to do. Sango's advice to sleep was good, but she was tired of being tired, and just wanted to keep her eyes open for a while and relish in being free again.

She'd been scared back then…

After Inuyasha had informed her of what was in store for them both, she'd begun to panic. She'd been sick scared, but now she was safe and sound… and she wouldn't be leaving those balcony doors open past six o'clock.

The need to taste fresh air and wallow a bit more in that renewed freedom got the better of her, so Kagome toddled over to the balcony entrance to push open the glass door. She leaned against the balcony wall, looking out at the calm sea and the clear blue sky with only a few fluffy clouds to finish that 'Thomas the Tank Engine' perfection.

A few boats were out there, sailing… quite a few yachts in fact. It reminded her of her abduction, and she paused for a moment to look down at the stone wall she rested on. Black smears on the otherwise pristine paint-job were all that marked the entry of the kidnappers. They'd taken her by surprise…

What a way to make her feel helpless and weak.

A movement out the corner of her eye made her look up with a narrowed gaze. She spotted Inuyasha a few balconies away on her left, in the process of lowering a cigarette from his lips and blowing the smoke into furling swirls above him. Kagome couldn't help but sigh… was he ever going to quit seriously?

It was doubtful…

Kagome also noticed that his arm had been pinned to his chest with another blue sling like the time he'd fought the Peach Man… or Mr Meatball, whatever his name was. She wondered why… had he been injured in their escape?

She was about to call out his name or wave to get his attention when he turned to look at her, and then there was no need. She smiled, but he didn't smile back. Obviously, he was either annoyed with her or still brooding about the kidnapping.

"What happened to your arm?" she called over to him.

A small smirk tilted his lips and she watched as he suddenly turned towards her and pulled himself onto the narrow wall. She wanted to shout at him to get down before he broke his neck, but she already knew his balance wasn't something to be scoffed at. In only a few leaps,  he'd crossed the three balconies between them and hopped down beside her. "Tadaa!" he exclaimed upon seeing her face,  and she realised how concerned she must have looked.

"Great. You should join a circus." she told him.

She was a little too tired to make conversation _and stand, so she quietly sat down on the cold stone floor and rested her hands loosely on the bar-like stone slats of the balcony wall. She still had a good view of the nice day below._

Inuyasha sat down silently beside her.

"So what happened to your arm?" she asked again, noticing he was already stubbing out the cigarette on the floor. Either he was considering her personal comfort or it had burnt out.

"Got shot." He said simply.

Kagome glanced at him, eyes widening in aghast shock. "What, like with a gun?"

"No, with a koala bear." He answered sarcastically. "Of course with a gun."

"When did that happen?" she asked.

"When we were making our getaway, I guess. Turn your back for long enough and it becomes a tempting target." He shrugged his one good shoulder. "Rather my shoulder than the back of my head anyway." 

Kagome shuddered. "I hate guns." She told him. "The world would have been a lot better if the 'genius' who had invented them just _hadn't __ invented them."_

Inuyasha didn't say anything to that.

"Although, I guess someone else would have just invented them instead." Kagome sighed and pattered her fingers over the stone bars. "It's just the people like Fushira Hashimoto who make the world bad… not guns." She suddenly looked over at Inuyasha. "How did we get out of there anyway?"

Inuyasha had taken another cigarette out of the packet hidden in his jacket. He slid it up and down between his index finger and thumb. "I made a distraction… got us loose… stole their boat, and high-tailed it. Then that crazy woman picked us up. She made me sign her shopping bag as a taxi fee."

Kagome smiled slightly. "Pity it wasn't that easy to get out when you were six." She said quietly.

"I wasn't seventeen years old when I was six." He responded flatly. "It's harder to contain adults than children… especially when the adult's friend gobbled up all the drugs."

Kagome smiled at the way he had unknowingly termed her as a 'friend' but she didn't make anything of it. If she drew attention to it he would probably just take it back. "So you could say I helped save your life."

"Possibly. I saved your life, too." _In more ways than one…_

Kagome only saw the obvious way of taking that statement and she smiled. "Yeah. Thanks…" Her gaze followed the slow path of another yacht in the distance. "I hope the police catch that Fushira Hashimoto guy… He deserves to be strung up by his heart strings and beaten with spiky paddles. Anything else is too good for him."

"The police won't catch him." Inuyasha told her quietly.

Kagome slid a suspicious gaze to him. "You sound sure of yourself."

"He's dead."

Kagome blinked at him. That was news to her. "Um…" she fought for something to say. "When… when did he die?"

"When I shot him this morning."

He watched her, as if waiting for some kind of reaction. He was tensed up and she could see he was anxiously awaiting her response…

But what did you say to something like that?

"I'm not…" she began, looking at the stone floor. "I don't think I'm sad to hear he's dead… but what about you?"

He shrugged, but he didn't seem to relax as he turned his eyes away from her, looking out at the horizon again. He seemed disappointed with her answer… maybe he'd been expecting her to come out with some wise and wonderful verses to justify his conscience. It was obviously bothering him.

It reminded her of that other time.

"Do you remember when that hijacker killed the limo driver, when he took us on a paper chase out of the district?" she asked him softly. He glanced at her shrewdly, nodding almost imperceptively. "When you fired off both guns, for a moment I thought you'd killed him… and I was scared…"

"What?" He exploded. "Even if I had killed him, I wouldn't have turned on you – what do you take me for?!"

"A guy who is getting eaten up over his conscience!" she snapped back. "And just _listen _for a moment before you start mouthing off at me!"

He made an irritated sound and turned his head away. He could have left at that point if he'd really wanted to… but he stayed.

"You scared me back then because you've already got so much excess emotional baggage it isn't even funny." She told him in a reasonable way. "I mean, if you were a character in a book, you'd be the guy that keeps to himself, doesn't talk to anyone, kicks ass and whom everyone fancies. If you actually went ahead and killed someone,  I wasn't sure you'd be able to cope… you've already seen too much death."

Inuyasha stayed very quiet and Kagome glanced across at him cautiously. "I was scared for you then… and I'm scared now."

Their eyes met for what seemed like a small eternity… but Kagome couldn't handle the intensity and had to look away to the yacht again. It had travelled all of an inch to her perspective.

"Do you know what happened when I was six?" he asked her.

Kagome gave an iffy sort of grimace. "I know more than I probably ever wanted to…" She tightened her hands around the stone bars. "I'm sorry I ever wanted to know." she shuddered at the mere thought of someone separating either her or Inuyasha's nails from their fingers.

"I can tell you if you like." 

Kagome shot him a startled glance. Oh _now he decided it was a fine time to tell her. She shook her head slightly. "You don't have to tell me just to make me happy."_

"But it won't make you unhappy, right?" 

In that case… "Ok…" She turned to face him properly, determined to give him her full attention. This was what he needed. He'd probably been building up to this moment for eleven years.

"My father…" he began disjointedly, as if he wasn't sure where to start or where to go from there. "…he… his term of office was running out in 1992 and he wanted to get re-elected. Desperately."

Kagome frowned but let him continue without any of her confused interruptions.

"So he paid Fushira to kidnap me so that people would give him the sympathy vote. But then it went wrong. Fushira wouldn't take the money and he wouldn't give me back because he was having too much fun. My father couldn't tell anyone because then Fushira would expose his plan… I guess his reputation was more important than I was."

Kagome gaped at him. "Are you sure?"

"I only found out this week."

"That's awful…!" Kagome came short of pressing her hand to her mouth. "What about your mother? Did she know?"

"No one else knew. Just him." Inuyasha made an irritable sound. "And I was so fucking glad to see him when they found me!"

Kagome struggled to catch up. "How long were you… held by Fushira?"

"Three months… maybe more." He shrugged and sighed wearily. "He tortured me non-stop. I wasn't the same person I used to be when I came out. That's when all the trouble started… I didn't know what to do with myself."

"That whole identity crisis you were on about…?"

"Yeah…"

"But then when you were eleven… why did he kill your parents?" Kagome asked, not sure if she was treading on off-limit territory yet.

"A rumour was going around the villa that I was ready to tell the police the name of the man who kidnapped me. I guess Fushira must have been keeping tabs on me because that's when he came back and messed up my parents' car. He must have thought I was with them." Inuyasha shook his head. "I didn't say anything afterwards… I figured that if he was in jail for my parent's murder then me 'fessing up about the kidnapping would change nothing."

"Oh…"

"And I guess he's been planning to kidnap me again ever since he got sent to jail… he must have wanted revenge."

"What about Jinko Aida?" she asked. "She struck me as odd…"

"She was Fushira's girlfriend. He's old enough to be her father, but there you go. She only did what she did because she loved him." he scowled. "You should have seen her face when I killed him…"

"If anyone deserved to die, it was him." Kagome told him quietly, but firmly. "You had no choice, right?"

"I did." He corrected her. "I could have let him walk in on your hiding place and put the escape at risk… so I shot him. I didn't want to."

"Then you're in no way as bad as him." Kagome felt shaken, despite her brave and confident words. "He could have killed me – you practically saved my life! You shouldn't feel bad about that. That's about as close to self-defence as you can get!"

"But it wasn't though, was it?" Inuyasha snapped. "I all but shot him in the back!"

"But you didn't though, did you?!" she defended him. "You saved me – so don't try and back out on that!"

He sighed and looked out across the sea again. She reckoned he was probably watching the same yacht that she'd seen. "What do I do?" He  sounded broken, completely defeated.

Kagome sighed deeply. She felt that she was partly responsible for his current suffering. If Fushira hadn't been so close to finding her hiding place, Inuyasha wouldn't have killed him. She could also say that if she hadn't begged to come back for another week, she wouldn't have gotten involved at all and she wouldn't have been therefor Fushira to find.

But would Inuyasha still have been kidnapped? Would he have escaped alone if she hadn't been there to eat his share of the drugs?

"Fushira's dead." She said slowly. "Nothing can change that… and you shouldn't be sorry for it, either. But this is where it ends."

He glanced up at her, clearly confused.

"Fushira's dead, right? He can't hurt you anymore." Kagome watched those cloudy amber eyes darken slightly.  "From what you're telling me, this has been going on ever since it started in 1992. He's been watching you and plotting against you for eleven years. It's over."

A short breath escaped him, but his gaze was still intense. "Kagome, you-"

The bedroom door crashed open. "Kagome!"

Kagome whipped around to face the bedroom and saw the last person she expected to see come striding towards her.

"Mom!"

AN: How many people saw that coming? ^__^


	28. Homeward Bound

**Author's Notes: **Am I the only one getting bombarded with viruses recently? That dooms virus has been going around like fire, I was sent thirty emails containing that virus yesterday. It's unbelievable. So, just to warn people – if you keep getting emails with 32k attachments that are titled 'test' 'hi' or 'hello' and are filled with gibberish DO NOT open the attachment, it's probably the virus.

If you already are infected with the virus… well… oops?

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 28**

**Homeward Bound**

"Kagome?!"

Kagome whirled around at the sound of her mother's voice. "Mom?!"

"Kagome!"

In an instant their conversation ended as Kagome scrambled to her feet and met the older woman halfway across the bedroom. Inuyasha watched in perplexed astonishment as they both fell into each other's open arms and began sobbing in synchrony. What the hell was going on?

Kikyo appeared in the doorway, slightly out of breath and her hair out of place. She beckoned to Inuyasha. "Detective Sano is here – he wants to talk to you."

Inuyasha got begrudgingly to his feet and started off towards the door. He wasn't sure how he felt about Kagome's mother being there… but then again, not knowing how he felt wasn't anything new. He intended to just walk straight past the embracing pair, and he would have succeeded had a stray hand not grabbed his shoulder.

"You!" Kagome's mother whirled on him, momentarily brushing her daughter aside.

_Uh oh…_

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. Mrs Higurashi's hands were slowly reaching out, aiming for his neck in a stranglehold. By the door, Kikyo flinched, but was too far away to do anything. Kagome just watched blandly.

_This is it, _he thought_, strangled to death by an overprotective fan girl's mother!_

"Thank you so much!"

Mrs Higurashi's arms closed around his neck and the woman quickly began sobbing into his shoulder, just like she'd done with Kagome. Inuyasha remained stiff and unyielding in his shock. "What?" he wheezed.

"You saved my little girl - how can I ever repay you?!" Mrs Higurashi continued to sob.

Kagome's hands fisted against her hips. Inuyasha saw her brow tick lower behind her mother's back. "Excuse me, but if it wasn't for me _he _would never have been able to save me… I mean… you know what I mean."

Mrs Higurashi sniffed loudly. "What?" she looked vaguely at her daughter.

"I think she means that it was a joint effort." Inuyasha quickly sidled out of the woman's huggle range. "I couldn't have escaped without her, and she couldn't have escaped without me… yet I still seemed to be the one doing all the running…"

"Thank you for saving her!" Mrs Higurashi gushed all over again. "I was at my wit's end - no one could tell me where she was or what was happening to her! I've never been so distressed in my life!"

Something about the simple way she said that reminded Inuyasha of a conversation he'd held with Kagome the previous week. He cocked his head slightly in uncertainty as Kagome fell into her mother's embrace again, convincing her that she was safe and sound.

Wasn't this the woman who had been stuck in a car for six hours with her dead husband? How had she managed to say so flippantly that _this _was more distressing than the earthquake?

_She'd talked about it…_

"I'm ok now, Mom." Kagome leaned away from her teary-eyed mother. "We got back safely and we escaped before they could harm us in any way."

Kagome went babbling on to her mother about what it had been like. How she'd been left in that room for nearly a day before Inuyasha had gallantly arrived and all that. She was going into in-depth detail on the decorations of the junk room when Kikyo coughed loudly, getting Inuyasha's attention. He glanced over at her expectantly.

"Detective Sano?" she reminded, lifting an eyebrow.

"Right…" He spared one last glance at the chattering Kagome before following Kikyo out of the room.

Kikyo spoke to him over her shoulder as they made their way to the elevator. "Sano says that the police found the lakeside cabin you mentioned. The majority of the kidnappers had left… but he said that Jinko Aida was still there. So was Fushira Hashimoto's body."

"And what else did he say?" Inuyasha asked uneasily.

"Nothing. He just wants to talk to you now."

~*~

"How did you find out I was back so soon?" Kagome asked her mother, dragging her to sit on the bed. "How did you get here?"

"Well that nice boy, what was his name…? Miroku, I think. Well, he came over this morning to take me to a meeting with the police and Inuyasha's agent - but when I got here they told me you were back." She stroked Kagome's hair fondly. "Oh Kagome, I was so worried about you."

"I was a little scared, I suppose…" Kagome smiled encouragingly. "But I'm alright now."

"I know." Her mother nodded. "But I want you to come home with me today."

Kagome stared at her mother, not that her admission had surprised her or anything. "Come home?" she repeated slowly. "But I'm supposed to stay till tomorrow."

"It doesn't matter if you come home a day early, does it?" her mother reasoned. "I don't know, Kagome… I don't think I could bear to let you out of my sight for another night… I want you where I can keep an eye on you."

Kagome laughed a little. "Mom! This is the safest place I could be. If anyone was determined to kidnap me, then they'd have an easier job of doing it at home than here at the villa. Besides, the kidnappers have probably been caught by the police now, there's no point worrying-"

"That's exactly what you said last time we spoke." Her mother cut in with a good-natured smile. "You said that you were safe here and that there would be no more trouble because the perpetrator was captured. Then you got kidnapped."

"I know… but…"

"But what?"

Kagome looked at her lap. 'But' was all she had left to argue. "Oh Mom…" And she'd been so close to making a break-through with Inuyasha, too. That must have been the first time he'd opened up to someone in his life…

"Don't you want to come home?" He mother cocked her head, slightly confused and perhaps a little hurt.

Kagome quickly perked up for her mother's sake. "Oh no! I really do! I miss everyone and my friends and I'm kinda tired of being messed around by villains…" she trailed off as a sudden realisation dawned on her. "I guess… I guess I do want to go home. I don't… I suppose I don't feel comfortable here after what happened…"

Her mother smiled and put an arm around her shoulder. "Then we can go home today, Kagome." She told her gently. "Your friends are waiting at the Shrine. They're expecting you back and I think they intend to give you the Spanish inquisition when they see you."

Kagome's mouth twitched up in a slight smile as she stared off into space, but it was a hollow expression. She felt bad… bad for wanting to go home.

Why did that feel like she was betraying Inuyasha?

~*~

"Jinko Aida says that you killed Fushira Hashimoto." 

Inuyasha planted his chin in his palm and stared at the detective across the desk. "She's right. I did." Beside him, Kikyo gave an irritated sigh. She'd told him not to give anything away to the detective, but he'd blown it within four words.

"How did this happen?" Detective Sano asked carefully.

Inuyasha had to admit that he liked Sano better than the previous detective. For one thing, this guy's face was the first friendly one he'd seen after those three hard months in '92, as well as the fact that his approach was a lot less accusing than the other detective's. Inuyasha felt no need to beat around the bush with him. "Fushira was about to find where I'd hidden Kagome. If he found her, he would have done something to her… whether he'd beat, maim, or kill, I don't know. But I didn't want to risk it, so I shot him."

"He was armed." Kikyo added quickly. "It was self-defence."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "He wasn't armed. I practically shot him in the back!"

Detective Sano remained composed and calm despite the ferocity brewing between the superstar and his agent. "The bullet entry wounds were in his chest."

"He turned around just before I shot him."

"But you say you killed him defending Kagome Higurashi?" Sano pursed his lips as he jotted something down on his little notepad.

"Yeah… I suppose." Inuyasha shrugged.

Sano nodded. "Ok then." He sat in silence, making more notes.

Kikyo and Inuyasha exchanged nervous little glances before Kikyo leant forward slightly. "Ok then?" she echoed uncertainly.

Sano stopped and looked up at them with a closed expression. "Ok then… that's all I needed to know."

"Is he in trouble?" Kikyo asked sharply.

"Am I in trouble?" Inuyasha followed. "Because, you know, I didn't kill him in self-defence, and that usually means murder-"

"As far as I see it, Mr Inuyasha, you were acting as Kagome Higurashi's self-defence. That's practically the same thing. You aren't in trouble." Detective Sano said in such a dismissive manner that Inuyasha felt slightly cheated. "It's the same as any other circumstance. Say you had a gun aimed at a knife-wielding maniac who was going after a small child. Shooting that maniac for the sake of the child isn't murder."

"Yeah, but Fushira didn't have a knife, and Kagome wasn't a child!" Inuyasha argued.

Kikyo slapped his arm. "Do you _want _to go to prison?!"

Detective Sano waved a hand vaguely. "Circumstance. It's all black and white in the eyes of the law, Inuyasha. He was going after a defenceless person, you acted as their defence. Besides, no one actually feels sorry for Fushira Hashimoto…"

"Apart from Inuyasha, apparently." Kikyo said dryly, looking away.

"The courts will deal with it." Sano went on. "Jinko Aida has identified the other kidnappers and two have already been caught. The others are just a matter of time. There will be no court case – this is a simple matter. We have the evidence we need to prosecute and so far there has been no contradiction in who shot who. We'll take it from here."

The detective flipped his notebook shut and began to stand.

"That's it?" Inuyasha narrowed his eyes at the older man. "No problem? I just killed a man."

"Like I said, in the eyes of the law, your good deed balances out the bad deed. You're clear. Off the hook. Now just concentrate on recovering from the experience." Detective Sano gave a short nod of farewell before heading out the door of Kikyo's office.

Kikyo spared Inuyasha one last glance before hurrying out after him.

Inuyasha contemplated for a moment then shook his head slightly. He didn't know why… but Sano's flippant dismissal consoled him a little.

"All that worrying for nothing, huh…?" he muttered grumpily as he propped his feet on Kikyo's desk and leant back. "I can get away with fucking murder…"

His eyes slid to his boots and widened slightly. All the stomping around he'd done in the countryside that morning had caked his feet with mud… which was now being smeared in lovely streaks over Kikyo's papers.

He may have been able to get away with murder, but being able to escape Kikyo's wrath was something else entirely…

"Aw… crap!"

~*~

"Mr Sesshomaru, sir? What's the matter?" Rin's heels clipped across the marble floor as she approached her boss. He happened to be stretched out across the fainting couch in the middle of the extensive living room, which made it awkward for Rin to find a space to sit down next to him. She settled for seating herself just above his head. "Please tell me what's wrong."

"I'm having my afternoon nap, Rin." Sesshomaru dead-panned with his eyes closed. "Please leave me in peace to get on with my activity."

"But you seem upset, Mr Sesshomaru, sir." Rin pandered. "It's never good to go to sleep on an upset mind."

"That's 'It's never good to go to sleep on an empty stomach', Rin."

"That too. Do you want something to eat then?" she chirped pleasantly.

"Rin…" Sesshomaru cracked open his eyes to stare at the ceiling. "My wife is pregnant again. She has kicked me out of the house with three children that seem to be the collected reincarnation of Cerberus the Greek hound. She has, of course, retained my daughter, the most charming of my five children – soon to be six children – and left me to deal with triplets that I have supposedly psychologically damaged for the rest of their natural lives."

Rin just blinked at him.

Tilting his head, he looked her in the eyes. "Am I a bad parent?"

Rin seemed to find it hard to answer that question, much to Sesshomaru's annoyance. She 'um'ed and 'ah'ed for quite a while as his eyes narrowed a little more at each indecisive sound before she eventually perked upright. "Only slightly."

"Only… slightly."

"You're a very controlling kind of father." Rin said, tapping her chin. "I think maybe the triplets would benefit from a little hands-off parenting."

"Hands-off parenting?" Should he be taking the advice of a girl who had barely been out of her teenage years long enough to call herself a woman?  "What are you talking about? I'm a very relaxed parent."

"Well, maybe, but I think you could be more relaxed." Rin said, considering. "You're a good parent, but perhaps the reason why the triplets rebel so much is because you have them on such a tight leash."

It was the cleverest thing Rin had said to him so far. "Maybe you're right." He frowned.

"Maybe I am!" Rin sounded surprised. She stood up quickly. "Would you like something to eat?"

"No… you can just go back to accounting. Check if the shares have dropped any further." Sesshomaru told her.

"Ok!" Rin piped before she spun on her heel and clip-clopped her way out of the living room.

Sesshomaru cracked an eye open to watch her retreating figure before closing them again. Rin was a smart girl deep down.

_Really, _deep down.

It wasn't long before the patter of many smaller feet drew nearer. Sesshomaru mentally groaned, but did nothing.

"Hi, Dad!" Hiko said somewhere beside him.

Sesshomaru pretended to be asleep.

"Dad, do you know where we can find a blowtorch?" Mo asked. "We need to use one to cut Jiro's head off his pot."

There was a thump and a grunt. "Cut the _pot _off my _head, _moron!" Jiro's unmistakably muffled voice came after.

Sesshomaru ignored them, feigning a coma.

"Do you think he's faking a coma to get out of parenting?" Hiko asked his brothers.

"Maybe if we punch him a couple of times we'll know…" Mo pondered. "Do you remember if I'm left or right- handed?"

"Left!" Jiro crowed. "No… right!"

"He's ambidextrous, actually." Hiko said haughtily.

"Shut up, Hiko."

Sesshomaru sighed and rolled away from them. "Touch me and each one of you will die in cruel and unusual ways."

"Hey, Dad," Hiko pursued him. "Do you know where the blowtorch is?"

"Don't know, don't care." Sesshomaru said nonchalantly, aiming for the hands-off parenting that Rin had spoken about.

He was met by a stony silence before Mo stepped up to take the microphone. "Uncle Inuyasha wants to take us to a wet t-shirt contest. Can we go?"

Sesshomaru's hands tightened their grip on the cushion he rested against. "Sure. Wet t-shirts sound fun."

Another confused pause followed. Then Jiro shifted under his pot. "Has anyone seen my crack pipe?"

The cushion in Sesshomaru's hands ripped in half. Stuffing flew everywhere in a maelstrom as he surged upright and grabbed Jiro's pot handle. **"What did you say?!" **he barked.

The two triplets fortunate enough not to have any handles yipped slightly and skittered away. Jiro squeaked. "Nothing!"

There went his plan to be a hands-off parent. With a groan of disgust, he released Jiro's handle. "Go. All of you. Leave me in peace."

The triplets didn't need to be told twice and quickly scurried out of the room. Jiro only ran into two tables and a wall – lucky, considering how much of a hurry he was in. Sesshomaru sighed as he lay back down.

The feathers that had previously stuffed the cushion he'd mutilated now came floating down around him in a serene blanket.

"Maybe we need to talk to Jerry Springer…?" he wondered aloud

~*~

"Hey Kagome - you'll never guess what Sano just… said… to…" Inuyasha trailed off as skidded through Kagome's bedroom door. The door was open, giving him a full view of the suitcases lined up on the bed and the few piles of clothes that had been arranged around them.

Kagome appeared in her bathroom doorway with a couple of towels, but upon seeing him quickly threw them back into the bathroom. Obviously, they weren't complimentary. "Inuyasha!" she cried, flustered in her surprise.

"You're packing…" He entered the room, piecing it together quickly enough. "You're leaving?"

Kagome shifted uncertainly by the bathroom door. "Um… Mom wants me to come home with her… after what happened."

He frowned at the suitcases. "Can't you wait till tomorrow?"

"She doesn't want me to stay another night here." She rubbed her arm self-consciously.

"What about you? Do you want to go home?"

Kagome stared at him, as if torn on how to answer that. She slowly nodded and lowered her gaze to the floor. "I guess… I'm a bit homesick."

"Oh." Inuyasha reached out and ran a finger along the zipper of the suitcase. "Where's your mother?"

"Taking a tour around the villa with Miroku." Kagome told him quietly.

"Oh." Inuyasha said again. Not the most intelligent thing he had managed so far – he'd already said it twice now. "So you're really going?"

Kagome nodded again.

Before he had time to open his mouth and say 'Oh' again, Kagome's mother arrived in the doorway. "Hi dear," She smiled at her daughter and nodded at Inuyasha. "The limo's waiting. We'd better go."

Inuyasha started. "Wait - you're going _now_?" He frowned.

"Um… yeah…" Kagome quickly hurried around him as she haphazardly piled her clothes into the suitcases and jammed them shut with only a few minor fights. Inuyasha watched her, at a complete loss with himself.

"So soon?" He still couldn't bring anything wittier out of his mouth, could he?

"Yes." she answered, shortly, bluntly, and as if she was struggling to find intelligent words to use as well.

_But we only just started to talk to each other…!_

"I'm sorry." Kagome offered lamely, avoiding his eyes. She heaved up two of her suitcases and eyed the remaining suitcase uncertainly. Her mother had disappeared from the doorway again, leaving her with fewer hands to carry the luggage. Inuyasha picked up the last suitcase automatically, earning himself a small, quick, and uneasy smile from Kagome. "Thanks." she said and started for the door.

Inuyasha was still in a state similar to shock. Kagome was leaving. It was like a slap in the face. This was the last thing he'd expected to find happening upon their return from the kidnapping ordeal. Of course, the idea of Kagome's mother being worried about her daughter had never crossed his mind, even though he knew it probably should have.

"Are you sure you want to go so soon?" he called after her as they reluctantly traipsed down the hallway towards the staircase.

"Yes," She said, in that same way as before, as if she was about to say more but had bitten off her statement.

He helplessly trailed down the stairs after her, wondering what the heck he was supposed to say. 

The stewards were waiting at the front door, ready to take Kagome's luggage and pack it away in the limo. Outside, Kagome's mother was conversing with both Sango and Miroku, but Kagome didn't go out to join them just yet. Instead she let the men take her luggage and hung back inside the doorway, slowly turning towards Inuyasha. She seemed to be working up the courage to say something.

""I guess this is goodbye." She offered eventually, inching her gaze up to his.

He considered. "I guess so…"

"Um…" She frowned suddenly. "This might be asking too much, but I have three friends at home who really wanted a souvenir of you. I didn't get a chance to ask you properly and now we're out of time…"

"Your friends?" He frowned back.

"Yeah. I told you about them, remember?" she chided. "Yuka, Eri and Ayumi."

"Oh yeah…" He thought for a moment before conceding. He unhooked his wristwatch and handed it to her. "That's for Yumi."

"Yuka." She corrected absently, handling the wristwatch in awe.

"Whatever." He unclasped the back of his necklace. "This is for Erika."

"Eri."

"And this…" He tugged off his solitary, solid gold earring and passed it to her. "… is for Ayame."

"Ayumi."

He smirked. "I know, I'm just messing." 

Kagome gaped at him. "Are you sure you want to give me these? These must have cost a fortune!"

"They have no sentimental value." He shrugged. "Easily replaced. Don't worry about it." Then as an afterthought, he quickly slipped off one of his rings and passed it to her.

"I don't need this," She tried to pass it back. "I only have three friends."

"You poor, lonely thing."

She rolled her eyes. "I only need three souvenirs… nail clippings would have done! I don't want to rob you."

"Oh, relax." He waved her concern away. "I'm rich, remember… and that last one's for you."

"Oh…" Kagome's eyes widened as she regarded the ring in a new light. "Thank you…" she said, and she meant it.

Outside, her mother's voice could be heard. "Kagome! Come on, dear, we're going now."

"Coming!" Kagome called back, but didn't move. She stared at the silver ring in a brooding silence. It was solid, pure silver with the carved shape of a woman crawling along the rim. A small blue stone was cupped in the woman's hand which protruded slightly from the top. Not as expensive as the other gifts, but she knew it held more sentimental value than they did. 

After all, she could have sworn that she'd seen this ring on the thumb of a certain female glamour model on the front cover of Vogue once.

It was his mother's.

She looked up at him searchingly. "Thank you." she said again with more feeling than before.

He smiled slightly. "Don't lose it, yeah?"

She nodded slowly, ignoring her mother's call. She was too trapped in Inuyasha's gaze to really be aware of anything else. This was why she'd found it so hard meeting his intense gaze earlier… she knew that once she was snared, she would just be stuck gazing up at him forever. This was probably how every other fan girl felt whenever they saw him…

Fortunately, she found the only way to break it. Listlessly, she stepped forward and circled her arms around his neck. It didn't feel as awkward as she'd always imagined it would. It felt natural and when he reciprocated the embrace, she felt safe and at home. "Take care of yourself." she told him, breathing in his warmth.

"If you get kidnapped, you're on your own." he warned.

"Understood." She squeezed him one last time and leant back with a smile. "I can officially say I don't hate you anymore. After all we've been through, value you as a friend."

"You sound so stupid." But he laughed and released her. "Ok, I admit. I can just about tolerate you too."

She smiled and took a step towards the door. "Goodbye then." 

"Yeah… take care." He smiled back, but it felt false.

Her smile broke into a grin and she waved cheerfully as she ran down the steps to where her mother was waiting. Inuyasha watched as she embraced her mother and Sango happily (she shook hands with Miroku in a rather formal manner) before climbing into the limo. She waved one last time, making Inuyasha automatically wave back. But then the limo door was shut and she disappeared from view.

So. That was the last of Kagome Higurashi, eh?

The limo peeled away from the steps as Sango and Miroku waved enthusiastically at its departure. Miroku was the first to give in and head back up the steps while Sango stayed behind, still waving and calling. As he passed Inuyasha, he paused and glanced back at the retreating limo, then at Inuyasha. 

"Dude…" he said, shaking his head. "You should have kissed her."

~*~

"I don't know where you got the notion that he was rude and egotistical, Kagome." her mother said as she peered back at the shrinking villa behind them. "He seemed quite nice to me. And he gave your friends some lovely presents."

Kagome sighed and smiled. She somehow felt that perhaps her mother was a bit quick to judge him. After all, she hadn't seen what he was like a week earlier. Granted, he hadn't changed that much, but at least he didn't openly detest her anymore.

Somehow, she felt that she hadn't seen the last of Inuyasha…

A theory that was confirmed when she spotted his oh-so – painfully perfect face in the window of a perfume shop. It was black and white, styled photography, and definitely Inuyasha. She smiled slightly as they turned a corner and she lost sight of the poster. Well… at least he'd been telling the truth when he'd said he ran his own brand of cologne.

Just as her mother had said, her three friends were waiting for her at the top of the shrine steps the moment she stepped out of the limo. They came racing down the steps in a gaggle when they saw her.

"Kagome! You're alive!"

"Kagome! You're safe!"

"Kagome?! Did you get his hair like I asked?!""

It was all a bit of a mad blur from there. Kagome was pleased to know that her friends had also been incredibly worried about her and reassured them repeatedly that she was fine. They shepherded her up the stairs, gushing every step of the way. "Are you ok?" "Did they hurt you?" "What happened?" "Tell us everything!"

"I'm fine, we got out safely and I'm fine! I'm here, aren't I?" she reassured her friends. "Look, I got you guys some souvenirs!"

Their distress was instantly forgotten as they reached the top step. "Oh really?" Eri blinked. "What did you get?"

"Wait a moment…" She dug around in her shoulder bag, searching for the gifts she'd been given. The silver ring was firmly planted on her own thumb, but they didn't seem to have noticed it yet. "Ahah!" She produced the wristwatch. "This one is for Yuka."

"Wow…" Yuka gasped as she took the watch. "Is it his?"

Kagome nodded as she handed Eri the male jewellery and Ayumi the gold earring. "All his, right off his body."

All three of them cooed and promptly tried on the gifts. Granted, the wristwatch was a bit big on Yuka, the male jewellery was a little too masculine for Eri's throat, and the solitary earring looked very lonely in Ayumi's ear. But they all looked very appreciative anyway. 

"And…" Kagome rummaged around her bag again. "I got something else too." She whipped out three pairs of briefs. "Tadaa!"

Her friends collectively sucked in a gasp. Ayumi grabbed Eri's arm for support "Are those Inuyasha's underwear?!" she whispered urgently.

"Yep." Kagome grinned. "Swiped them from his room when he was swimming in the pool."

The girls started reaching for a pair each until Yuka held up her hands. "Wait! Wait!" She brought her friends to a halt. "Kagome… they've been washed, haven't they?"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Yes, they're from his drawers. I'm not a total perv."

To her surprise, her friends deflated with a sad chorus of sighs. "Damn…" Eri muttered miserably. "I bet I could have sold a worn pair for a million on E-bay…"

AN: Is this the end? (quick – whip out the violins) This is far from over, don't worry ^__^


	29. A Bit of a Short Interlude

**Author's Notes: **Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, it's more of an interlude really but I'm still very sorry. I deserve to hung and whipped! I promise to try and get the next chapter out as quickly as possible to make up for the length.

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 29**

**A Bit of a Short Interlude**

"Kikyo says that it would be a good idea to hold a celebration tomorrow." Miroku told Inuyasha as he sipped his beer. It was a little too warm for his taste, but that was to be expected when his bedroom lacked a decent fridge. "That reminds me, can I get a pay raise?"

Inuyasha ignored his last comment as he watched the television set through hooded eyes. "What's to celebrate?" he asked lazily, stifling a yawn behind his hand. Miroku's room was slightly too warm for his taste and it was making him drowsy - either that, or the exertion he'd put himself through earlier that day had exhausted him.

"Oh... just celebrating your return from a horrendous kidnapping incident. The triumph of good over evil, and all that kinda crap." Miroku scratched his nose. "So what kind of celebration do you want?"

"No ballroom... no dancing... no singing, laughing, or happiness of any kind..." Inuyasha jabbed the mute button on the remote as a rather familiar gossip show came on. That show talked about him at least once every broadcast and slandering gossip was the last thing he needed. "How about a house party?"

Miroku glanced over at him. "You're not inviting any of your junky friends."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Inuyasha shrugged and heaved himself off the sofa to go look at the fish in Miroku's aquarium. "Kikyo's going to handle the guest list, right?" Suddenly he jumped. "What happened to Elvis?!"

"He ate too much junk food and died." Miroku answered flatly, trying to read the lips of the host on the gossip show. "He's not coming to your party, Inuyasha."

"No - Elvis the fish!" Inuyasha hissed, tapping the fish tank. "The black one!"

"You named my fish?" Miroku look at him incredulously.

"The only ones I can see are 007 and Lucky!"

"Oh no, that isn't Lucky, that's Fillet. Lucky didn't live up to his name and got sucked into the pump."

"But what happened to Elvis?" Inuyasha pressed. "He was my favourite!"

"I guess he ate too much junk food and died as well." Miroku peered upwards in a thoughtful pose. "I think I dropped a Mars Bar in the tank last week..."

Just then the phone rang. Miroku sighed and began reaching for it, but Inuyasha was a step closer and quickly snatched it before him. Miroku winced. "You probably shouldn't answer that..."

"Why not? This is my house." Inuyasha said, bringing the phone to his ear. "Hello, Inuyasha residence, Inuyasha speaking...."

"It's probably a stalker." Miroku told him. "Then you'll be sorry."

"Rushi! Hi babe!" Inuyasha flopped down on the sofa again. "Haven't heard from you in a while, girl... no, I'm fine, fine..."

Miroku rolled his eyes. Rushi. The current girlfriend.

"No, I got shot, I healed, I'm fine... yep... uh huh... sure... love you, too..." Inuyasha trailed off, rolling his eyes discreetly at Miroku who just grinned back. "Yep. Yeah. Listen, Rushi, I've been thinking and-"

He broke off as the mobile phone in his pocket began piping out the Birdie Song. "Oh, hold on," Inuyasha put Rushi on hold as he made to answer his mobile while Miroku looked on in mild interest. "Hello? Oh hi, Ruiko!"

Ruiko... another  current girlfriend.

"Yeah... yeah... no, I'm fine... wasn't a big deal... yeah... love you, too..." Inuyasha scratched his neck. "Ok, look Ruiko, I've been thinking and... oh, wait - hold on, there's someone on the other line."

Miroku gave up trying to lip-read the woman on television and turned his full attention to Inuyasha, sensing a lot of entertainment ahead.

"Eiko!" Inuyasha cried upon hearing the new caller's voice. "Nice to hear your voice, babe, I missed you while I was gone... no, I'm fine, thanks for asking... yeah... I love you, too. No, I'm not just saying that... no, I don't say that to every girl I meet..."

Miroku snorted, earning himself a sharp glare.

"Ok, Eiko, I've been thinking and..." Inuyasha gave a dramatic pause followed by a heart-breaking sigh. "I just don't think things are working out between us, honey. I think we need some time apart."

Miroku's jaw dropped as Inuyasha quite calmly went back to the house phone. "Ruiko, listen - oh, sorry - Rushi! Anyway, I've been thinking and I think we need to see other people..." He switched lines on his mobile. "Ruiko.... We need some time apart..."

Miroku grabbed his arm. "What are you doing?!" he hissed. "You're dumping them all?! They're drop-dead gorgeous!"

Inuyasha waved him off impatiently as he went back to Eiko. "It's not you... it's me." he told her, the swapped back to Rushi. "It's not you, it's me." Then it was Ruiko's turn. "Not you, me."

"Two supermodels and an actress!" Miroku shook his arm. "What are you doing to yourself?!"

Inuyasha leaned away from him. "Now Rushi, don't cry, honey... Ruiko... don't cry, I'm sorry..." He switched to Eiko. "Eiko, don't... wait, why aren't you crying?... That's not fair - I dumped you first!"

Miroku quickly snatched both phones away from him. "He'll call you back!" he yelled loudly before terminating all calls. He rounded on Inuyasha. "What's the matter with you?!"

Inuyasha shrugged and went back to staring forlornly at the fish tank. "I don't know... I just don't want to bother with commitment right now."

"You've never bothered with commitment - that has nothing to do with it. Why did you just dump your last three girlfriends?" Miroku shook his head. "Are you ill?"

"Nah... just don't feel like putting up with girlfriends anymore." Inuyasha sighed. "I've forgotten what it feels like to be single..." He cracked a smile. "It feels pretty good!"

Miroku glared at him. "Inuyasha... you just dumped three beautiful women..." Miroku slowly slid his narrowed gaze to the fish tank, and then back to Inuyasha. "You wouldn't do that unless there was someone else you had in mind... someone you wanted to focus all your attention on..."

Inuyasha stared at him, nonplussed. "What are you on about? I just don't want a whiny girl hanging over my shoulder, that's all."

Miroku suddenly gasped. "Wait - you're not trying to go after Kagome are you?!"

"She's only been gone four hours, Miroku." Inuyasha rolled his eyes.

"But you're in love with her, right?"

Normally such an accusation would find Miroku with his head bitten off... but Inuyasha simply snorted and grabbed a beer from the pack in front of the sofa. He cracked it open without bothering with the bottle opener and took a short swig as he shrugged. "You wish." He smirked. "If I was in love with her, would I be so relieved to see her finally get her ass out of here?"

Speak of the devil; Kagome's picture flashed up on the gossip program. It was a picture taken of her at the awards ceremony, but the program was more likely to be discussing her recent escape from the kidnapping.

Inuyasha jabbed a finger at the TV. "_That _girl is a pain in the arse! She's nosy, loud, presumptuous and bossy! I have been on edge all week because of her and now that she's gone, I can finally relax and let my hair down. Couldn't take a freakin' cigarette without her jumping out at me from behind  a bush or something..."

"But..." Miroku frowned. "She did have some _good _qualities, didn't she?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "I don't know... whatever." He took a small swig of his beer then propped it on his lap, picking at the label. "Well, I guess she was alright. I mean... she was quite nice when she wasn't jumping down my throat about every little upset."

Miroku seemed to accept that and turned his attention back to the TV.

But Inuyasha wasn't done yet.

"She was kind as well." he admitted, still picking at the beer's label. "I guess having someone who had no preconception of undying love for me was a refreshing change... and she was pretty."

"Well, I did pick her for her looks." Miroku reminded him.

"And she smells great, don't you think?" Inuyasha grinned.

Miroku grinned back. "You noticed too, huh?"

They both sniggered and simultaneously sipped their beers. Inuyasha looked back at the fish tank for a moment. "She also managed to squeeze all sorts of things out of me."

Miroku looked at him incredulously. "I hope that's not some sort of kinky euphemism..."

"No, that's just you and your one-track mind." Inuyasha glanced back at him. "Did I ever tell you about '92?"

Miroku's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened into good impressions of saucers. "Uh..." Inuyasha had said _that _year! What the hell was up with him?! "No... I-I don't think you ever have... um... why?"

"No reason..." Inuyasha shrugged and paused for a moment before turning back to him. "Would you like to know?"

Miroku remembered the contract Kikyo had made him sign to keep his silence on the matter. "Um... I won't get fired, will I?"

"No."

"Then go ahead."

~*~

Kagome's friends had of course decided to help her unpack... but mainly to gush over some of the cool new clothes that Kagome had brought back with her.

"These clothes must have cost a bomb, Kagome!" Eri cried when she found a jewel studded belt in one of Kagome's suitcases.

"That's ok, I didn't buy any of them." Kagome smiled back as she hung up some of the gift dresses from Sango in her wardrobe. She'd been hoping to wear the pink outfit that Sango had given her for a special occasion... but now she'd have to save it for someone's birthday party.

"I can't believe how much stuff you brought back." Yuka sighed as she sat down on the bed, having completed unpacking her assigned suitcase. "You've got a wardrobe to last yourself a life time."

"Pity I'll grow out of them all before I get a chance to wear each one." Kagome sat down beside her. "Not to mention the fact that they'll all go out of fashion soon enough. Fame and glamour is a fickle thing."

"You sound so jaded." Ayumi said, holding up one of Kagome's dresses against her front as she examined herself in the mirror.

"Well, I've experienced it now. It's hard work keeping up with the latest trends... trying to please everyone." Kagome absently fingered the ring on her thumb. "I guess I never gave Inuyasha enough credit for being able to hold onto stardom for so long. Though I reckon Kikyo had a lot to do with it..."

"Who's Kikyo?" Eri asked.

Kagome sighed. "Someone who does all the work but gets no credit."

Eri shrugged. "Never heard of her."

"But what about Inuyasha?" Yuka said as Eri came to sit on Kagome's other side. "What did you guys do together this week?"

"Apart from getting kidnapped...?" Kagome shrugged in a droll manner. "Not much..."

"What was it like getting kidnapped?" Ayumi asked from beside the mirror.

"Scary." Kagome smiled uneasily, acutely aware that her friends were hanging onto her every word. "I was left in this skanky, little room for like a whole night on my own... and then in the morning Inuyasha arrived - because he'd been kidnapped too, you see."

"Crazy..." Yuka whispered, awestruck. "What happened then?"

"Um... well, we kinda got left to our own devices..."  Kagome pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on them. "The woman who had us said that Fushira Hashimoto would be coming to torture us in the morning..."

There was a collective gasp from her gathered friends. Ayumi had stopped admiring the dresses to look over at her. "What? Torture... as in...?" she trailed off uneasily, but came over to sit on the floor before Kagome.

"As in pain, suffering, nasty stuff that sends shivers down your spine just to think about it." Kagome pulled a face. "It was horrible, some of the things he was planning... so then me and Inuyasha put our heads together and we escaped. Simple as that!"

"Oh... that sounds so romantic." Ayumi sighed dreamily.

Kagome looked at her flatly. "I suppose you'd have to be there to see how un-romantic it actually was."

"But apart from that!" Yuka interrupted in a fresh tone of voice, obviously making an effort to clear the air of torture and non-romance. "What happened all week with Inuyasha? You have to tell us _everything _about him!"

"Everything...?" Kagome echoed, unsure what Yuka wanted to know.

"What was it like actually seeing him in person-?"

"You asked all this last weekend!!" Kagome cried.

Yuka gave her a 'so?' look. "But you didn't really answer properly, did you - so tell us now - what was he like?"

Kagome sighed and deflated slightly as she tried to remember something wonderful and positive about Inuyasha that would appease her friends. After a moment she smiled quietly at Yuka. "He took me a little by surprise. He's nothing like you'd expect him to be... you know, the guy you see on the posters and the guy you seeing talking to the magazines and TV hosts is nothing like the guy I just spent two weeks with." Kagome shook her head. In retrospect, she realised for the first time how different Inuyasha came across in public compared to how he came across in private.

For a start, he was basically a slack-off when there were no fangirls to impress. 

"But... it's true what they said about his presence." Kagome told her friends, aware that they were watching her the way little children watched an old man who was telling a fascinating fairytale. "The minute he enters the room, you know about it... I don't know what it is... either his ego is so huge you can feel it enter with him, or it's something else. All I know is that when he enters the room, the air suddenly turns electric with this energy... He's always the centre of attention, even when he's skulking. But he's like... the life of the party, if you know what I mean?"

Eri grinned and suddenly draped her arm around Kagome's shoulders in a quick squeeze. "This is quite a turn-around from being the sole-member of the anti-Inuyasha society two weeks ago! You're officially one of us now!"

"Oh please!" Kagome snorted. "I am in no way becoming fangirl number eighty million. Besides being a total attention-seeker, he's got absolutely no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I mean, yes I do kinda sympathise with him because he's not exactly had the best upbringing, but it still isn't a perfect excuse to go about doing the things he does..."

"What things does he do?" Ayumi cocked her head.

Kagome was about to answer, but managed to bite off her words before they were spoken. She'd promised not to tell about the drugs, the drinks and the house parties... besides, it was neither fair to her friends or Inuyasha. "Like... being a total snot." she finished lamely.

Yuka sighed and patted Kagome's back. "We're getting there, girls. I think maybe if she'd spent one more week there she would have fallen in love with him."

Kagome rolled her eyes, feeling a little hot in the cheeks. Her friends were hopeless romantics. Not an ounce of realism in any of them.

"But it's so cool, isn't it?" Eri grinned, fingering the chain around her neck. "Inuyasha knows who we are! He gave us these gifts especially! I can't believe Inuyasha know who we are!!"

"You are telling us the truth, aren't you, Kagome?" Ayumi pleaded. "These are gifts from Inuyasha - you didn't just steal them, did you?"

"What do you take me for?" Kagome contrived to look offended. "The underwear I stole... I don't think he'd appreciate me rummaging through his delicates without permission. But the expensive gifts were right off his person, he told me to give them to you. And do you know what?"

"What?" the three friends chorused.

"He said each of your names."

A bit of a white lie, but it pleased her friends to no end if the happy squeals were anything to go by. "It's so cool!" Yuka cried, then suddenly seemed to realise something. "Hey, Kagome... how come you didn't get a souvenir?"

"Huh?" Kagome was honestly puzzled for a moment before realising that she _had _been given a gift as well. "Oh, I did!" She held up her hand, thumb extended for them to see the wide silver ring encircling it.

"Wow..." Yuka breathed, grabbing Kagome's hand to drag it closer for better inspection. "Inuyasha really gave you a ring? Did he get down on one knee, too?"

Kagome snapped her hand back. "Be sensible. It's a _thumb _ring, not an engagement ring." she scolded her grinning friend.

"Let's have a look." Eri grabbed Kagome's hand to get a better view. "Hey... what kind of stone is this?"

Kagome shrugged. "Sapphire, I think."

Ayumi took a look, then did a double-take. "Kagome - that isn't a sapphire!"

"Oh?" Kagome stared at her impassively.

"It's a diamond!"

Kagome frowned. "What are you talking about? Diamonds are clear - that's a blue rock."

"No, blue diamonds are supposed to be the rarest, most expensive type of diamond you can get!" Ayumi gaped. "Oh my god, I don't believe he gave you something like that!"

Kagome pulled back, slightly overwhelmed.

"I thought red diamonds were rarest?" Yuka challenged Ayumi who shrugged.

"But..." Kagome gazed at the winding image of the abstract woman. "It was his mother's ring... he just gave it to me on impulse."

"Are you sure?" Yuka stared at her intently. "Kagome, that's a hell of an expensive rock on your hand - even more so if it was handed down from his mother - he can't have given it to you on impulse."

"But he did." Kagome insisted, still feeling a little lost and confused.

"Kagome..." Eri chewed her lip uncertainly. "Are you sure... you... um..."

Yuka was a little more forward in her questioning. "Were you going out with Inuyasha or something? 'Coz this is seriously the-"

"Oh knock it off, girls!" Kagome scooted back across the bed, putting some distance between them. "It was just a present. I'm not at all sure he was feeling so wonderful about his mother recently, so he probably just wanted to get rid of it anyway. It doesn't _mean _anything..."

Her friends didn't look as convinced. 

Ayumi perked up. "Hey, Kagome," she said slyly, leaning forward. "If Inuyasha gave you something to remember him by, did you do the same for him?"

Kagome allowed a small smile to grace her lips. "Possibly..."

Ayumi's eyes widened. She obviously hadn't been expecting that answer. "What did you give him?"

"I gave him nothing." Kagome replied smartly. "However... I did _leave _him a little something..."

~*~

That was it. He was officially knackered.

Inuyasha only just managed to draw himself up to the simple task of closing the drapes and brushing his teeth before bed. He barely had the energy to bother with pyjamas, and since it was a hot night anyway, he decided he didn't need the pyjama tops and settled for just wearing the bottoms.

For once, he was going to go to bed at bedtime like a good little boy - no staying up to watch the late night porn.

With a poorly suppressed yawn he drew back the covers of his bed, then stood quite still as his eyes landed on a little package lying on the mattress. It was crudely wrapped in a handkerchief and tied with a bit of dental floss...

It was probably one of the maids with a crush on him who had decided to leave a little present.

With mild curiosity he unwrapped the little parcel and let the contents drop down onto the bed. He frowned as he tossed away the flimsy handkerchief.

A note?

"Maybe I have a stalker..." He prayed it was nothing to do with Jinko Aida or Fushira Hashimoto. If it had 'I know what you did' written in blood he would be sleeping with Miroku tonight.

But to his pleasant surprise, it was from Kagome. It was unsigned, but he knew that it was from her.

_Dear Blockhead, _(this was the point at which the note gave her away)

_By the time you find this note I will be long gone and out of your evil clutches. I noticed you had a bit of a cold coming so I thought you could borrow my hanky. It's my favourite, so don't lose it and make sure you wash it before you hand it back to me._

_Thank you for coming to my rescue this morning! Very noble!_

_Luv 'n hugs, and take care of yourself!_

_Ps. I hope you don't mind, but I borrowed some of your underwear to give my friends a few souvenirs of my visit, and to prove I did actually spend two weeks with you and wasn't just bunking off school. Oh, and you are, in no way shape or form, a size 4._

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow, trying to figure out what she had been smoking when she'd written that note. Hand back the hanky? But he wasn't going to-

He cut that train of thought down in its tracks. Slowly he reached to pick up the fallen hanky and twisted it around his finger as he reread the note.

Well that was fine...

He was just going to have to invite her along to the party tomorrow night in order to give her back her beloved handkerchief. He smirked slightly and laid the note on his bedside table, alongside the scrap of cloth. With a sigh he dropped down onto his bed, but didn't bother pulling the covers over his body. It was too warm for that.

But it all worked out perfectly, and suddenly he didn't feel so short-changed about Kagome's decision to go home early.

~*~

"So you think that he'll really try and contact you to give it back?" Yuka asked Kagome sceptically. "I don't know, Kagome, that's asking a lot of an international superstar..."

"It was more of a joke anyway... but it would be nice to see him again, I suppose." Kagome hugged her knees cheerfully. "He's not a bad friend, but quite useless in a crisis."

"A friend, eh?" Eri practically squealed again. "I can't believe Inuyasha is a friend of a friend of mine! It's just too freaky!"

"Why?" Kagome looked exasperated with their continuous fangirl attitudes. "He's pretty much as average as Hojo... he's not _that _special. Anyone could have grown up in his place and turned out exactly the same." _Possibly_...

"Yeah, but Inuyasha's Inuyasha." Ayumi pointed out as if it was obvious.

Kagome sighed and smiled. "I suppose you're right. Somehow I doubt anyone else in the world would have turned out as famous as him. He just has the personality down pat..."

Yuka patted her shoulder. "You're damn right! Inuyasha's dead famous - no one can beat that!"

AN: Is it me, or has ff.net screwed up the spacing again?


	30. The Guest List

**Author's Notes: **Sorry about the long delay, but I had a little unforeseen disaster. I got locked out of the house on Monday and spent seven hours (11am – 6pm, roughly) sitting on a bench in the park with no phone, no keys and no decent neighbours to give me a hand… I also had a dog that kept fainting on me (get's tired very easily, poor thing). The weather right now can rival that of the Antarctic, I swear, so naturally by the next day I had a horrible cold that I'm still recovering from a week later. My mother's in Arizona and my Dad is off working for most of the daylight hours (either that or he's having another affair ¬_¬;;) so I have no one to pamper me and bring me food and chocolate. 

It's been a struggle, but I'm back at last with a new chapter. Though be warned… in a few weeks (bang on the Easter holidays) I'll be heading off to Arizona myself to spend time with my grandmother so updating will stop for two or three weeks while I'm gone (grandma had a run-in with the FBI involving drugs… that woman needs 24 hour care). But that also means I'll miss my Birthday T_T (Easter Monday). But I promise to try and have Dead Famous finished by then (along with Bottled Genius and Life Exchange)

Life really sucks… unless I catch a few dubbed episodes of Inuyasha on Cartoon Network while I'm in America. In which case life won't be so sucky! Viz doesn't have the licensing rights to distribute the anime into England so you'd never be able to go to any shop in this country and get a book or DVD of Inuyasha – we've never had Inuyasha on Tv and we never will! So believe me when I say I'm looking forward to just turning on the Tv in Arizona and getting a free Inuyasha episode ^__^

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 30**

**The Guest List…**

"Good morning, honey." Mrs Higurashi greeted her daughter as she came down the stairs the next morning. "How did you sleep?"

"Not well…" Kagome said groggily as she sat down at the kitchen table. She was still in her pyjamas, but then again, so was her brother. He was sat opposite her, wolfing down his breakfast while reading the back of the cereal box, kicking his feet against his chair in time with a rhythm only he could hear. Grandpa was there as well, reading the Sunday paper and wearing his usual shrine togs. Kagome vaguely wondered if he ever took them off.

"I woke up this morning…" Kagome informed them all, breaking off momentarily to stifle a yawn. "… and I thought I was still in the villa 'till I opened my eyes…"

"That's not too strange, dear." Mrs Higurashi planted a cup of orange juice down in front of her daughter. "You've had a rough week – it's no wonder you're disorientated."

Kagome yawned again as she reached for her juice. "I've had enough excitement for one week… I just want to settle down and have a normal day for once."

"No luck there, sis." Souta pushed his cereal box aside to look at his sister. "Someone called Sango rang a little while ago."

"Sango?" Kagome cocked her head. "It wasn't anything about a hanky, was it?"

"Nope." Souta shrugged, still kicking his feet. "Something about a party, I think."

"A what?" She frowned at her younger brother.

Mrs Higurashi came over with Kagome's breakfast: two slices of toast. "That's what she said. Party starts at six o'clock and you're allowed to bring three friends."

Kagome stared at her mother in surprise. "At the villa? Tonight?"

"Yes." Mrs Higurashi smiled cheerily at her.

"And you're ok with that?"

"Oh, I don't mind you going for one little party… as long as you bring Yuka, Eri and Ayumi to look after you."

"Hey!" Souta cried indignantly. "What about me?"

"What about you?" His mother blinked at him innocently. "You're too young to go to a house party."

"She's right." Kagome added, joining her mother's patronisingly adult tone. Then she suddenly realised something. "What? Wait, house party?"

"Mm hm." Her mother nodded. "Maybe now you can wear that pink dress you were telling me about last night?"

~*~

Inuyasha was beginning to break a sweat by the second circuit of the villa grounds. It was probably too hot outside to be going for such a hard run, but he didn't want to hang around the gym. Kikyo was in the middle of organising the party, and on such short notice she was working herself harder than usual - winding herself tautly with stress.

It was probably best to keep out of Kikyo's way at all costs. A wound-up Kikyo was a ticking time bomb.

But by the time he'd passed the pond on the third lap, he was beginning to get a little bored and overheated from running so hard for so long. Bess was keeping him on his toes, galloping off ahead of him and forcing him to keep pace of risk getting left behind. In her mind, she probably thought that she was taking _him _for a run. 

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath and pull the shirt off over his head to tie around his waist.

"One, two, three - DIVE!"

Inuyasha straightened up a little to squint behind him at the distant pond.

The previously clear surface had now been broken with choppy waves and three little boys - one with a pot still glued to his head.

How long had they been underwater for?

"What the hell are you doing?" Inuyasha called out to them.

"Playing submarines!" two of them called back as they attempted to hold the third brother under the water. Inuyasha hazarded a guess that Jiro's casserole pot was acting as the submarine with the pocket of air beneath to keep him breathing underwater… for a few seconds at least.

"That's cute." Inuyasha said flatly as he watched his nephews frolic in their rather malevolent way. He mooched back to the pond and squatted down at the water's edge, nonchalantly drawing a slightly crumpled cigarette out of his pocket as he did so.

The moment he flicked on the lighter, all three triplets stopped their floundering and looked over. Like moths to a flame, they came paddling over - Jiro and his pot in tow. "Didn't Kikyo say that you were supposed to be quitting the fags?" Mo piped as he drew near.

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Inuyasha glanced over as he spotted Bess come trundling back towards the pond, obviously disgruntled that he was holding back their progress. "Haven't you got that pot off Hiko's head, yet?"

"My name is Jiro." said a disembodied voice from under his pot.

Inuyasha quickly flicked a glance at the other two triplets, making a mental check of the little moon symbols on their foreheads. "Just keeping you on your toes." he said after deciding that perhaps the triplet was right.

"Uncle Inu?" Mo asked sweetly in the voice all children used when they were about to ask for something.

"What?" Inuyasha skewed a suspicious look at him.

"Can I have a cigarette?"

"Sure." Inuyasha began reaching for his pocket, then quickly froze. "Wait - how old are you guys?"

"Mo's thirteen, I'm fourteen and Jiro's fifteen." said Hiko.

"Not till you're sixteen or your dad will try and flush my head down the toilet again." Inuyasha told them, flicking ash from the end of his cigarette into the grass beside him. Bess snuffled at it eagerly. "So what do you want to smoke for?"

"Dad…" Hiko sighed.

Inuyasha scowled. "What's that about?"

"Things got weird…" Jiro's muffled voice said. "Dad doesn't seem to care about what we do anymore."

Hiko scowled as he clung to the tufts of grassy on the pond's edge. "He's letting us get away with murder… why isn't he bossing us around like normal?"

Inuyasha shrugged. "Maybe he doesn't love you anymore." He distractedly blew a thin cloud of smoke into the air above him.

"That's what we thought. Like maybe he'd forgotten about us." Mo said. "So if we smoke, maybe he'd remember to boss us around again? It's kinda creepy that he doesn't care."

Inuyasha sighed and stubbed the last of his cigarette into the ground before slinging his free arm around Bess' neck. "Smoking is bad for you and it will make you die a horrible and painful death." He said drolly, quoting Kikyo's exact wording. "So not till you're sixteen." 

"Nuts…" the three boys tutted angrily and glowered moodily under lowered brows.

Inuyasha smiled patronisingly and patted each one in turn on the head or in Jiro's case, the underside of the casserole pot. "Don't stress it. Just have fun at the party tonight…" he winked conspiratorially at them. "If you know what I mean…?"

An expression of surprise, then delight graced the boys' expressions. Jiro nudged Hiko. "Did he just wink at us?"

"Yes."

"So are we gonna trash the party?"

"Yes."

"And that will get Dad to punish us like he usually does?"

"Yes."

"Oh good?"

Inuyasha smirked and got to his feet. "Plan well, stooges." He patted his thigh and clicked his tongue. "Come on, Bess!" He left the triplets to start conniving a deadly plan as he set off on another trip across the gardens.

It didn't really bother him if the triplets ruined the party or not. As long as Kikyo didn't link it back to him, then all would be well. He wasn't particularly looking forward to the hoards of people who would be arriving in just a few hours, when all he wanted to do was put his feet up and have a good night's sleep. He was still tired from yesterday and his arm had only just finished healing. A small scar marked the entry of the bullet, but other than that he was back to perfect health.

That still didn't mean he felt like greeting and meeting over a thousand people that night.

Of course… there was just one consolation.

Kagome would be coming, too.

Somehow, just the thought of seeing one familiar face in that sea of  thousands of strangers was oddly comforting. She wouldn't be gushing over him, showering him with praise or sympathy for the ordeal he just went through. She'd probably just treat him like she usually did…

Now _that _was something to look forward to.

~*~

Kagome sighed as she held up her hand to regard the ring on her thumb. The polished silver caught the light of the street lamps that flicked past the limo window at short intervals, making the etched out figure of the woman seem like it was moving. The orange glow from the lamps gave the little stone an strange tint.

Vaguely she wondered if she was looking at a brand new colour of the spectrum.

"I can't believe this! I can't believe this! I can't believe this!" Eri was beside herself with excitement, as were Yuka and Ayumi. Every now and then Ayumi would burst out with sporadic fits of giggles and squeals whereas Yuka was more likely to just grin very happily at anyone or anything that moved inside or outside of the limo.

They could only be a couple of minutes away from the villa, and every second that passed mounted the tension and excitement even further.

So far everything was going to plan. The limo had arrived to pick Kagome and her friends up from the shrine to be taken to the party. As planned, Kagome had chosen to wear the pink dress and matching shoes. It wasn't anything as elaborate as the red dress that had once belonged to Inuyasha's mother, but it was simple and cute. Pink ribbons trailed the apex of the v-neck and from the ends of her cropped sleeves. It was more Kagome's style than any of the other dresses she'd been forced to wear over the past two weeks. 

But the blue ring was beginning to weigh on her mind.

Kagome wasn't so convinced that the stone was a diamond, let alone a blue one. To her, it looked like an ordinary sapphire, like the fairly cheap ones she saw in the jewellers shop in town. But then again, she'd done her research that afternoon.

As it turned out, the library had a whole section dedicated to rocks. Pink diamonds were rarest according to the book, white were most common, and the intensity of blue diamonds could range from a faint blue tinge to a strong blue. But no matter how much Kagome had stared at the pictures of the blue diamonds and the gem on her thumb, she couldn't begin to tell if she was really looking at the same type of rock.

Aside from that, she wasn't sure how she should feel about Inuyasha giving her such a treasured piece of inheritance. If it really was a diamond that would only make her feel worse.

It felt like stealing.

"I think I can see it!" Ayumi suddenly screeched, making Kagome start in her seat. Looking out the window she recognised the distant villa on the cliff, flooded with lights as it usually was at night time.

For some reason, Kagome was getting butterflies.

_What's the matter with me?_

Was she really that nervous about seeing Inuyasha? Maybe it was because she was subconsciously worried about his reaction to the theft of his underwear…?

"Maybe tonight's a good night to ask him if it's a diamond?" Yuka whispered to Kagome.

"What? Oh… maybe." Kagome glanced down at the ring and twisted it around her thumb distractedly, chewing her lip in deep thought.

The usual hopeful gatecrashers were hanging around when they arrived at the entrance. Obviously, the screaming fans gathered around the gates hadn't had an invite but had decided to come along anyway. Kagome doubted they would manage to slip past security after all the effort Kikyo had put into strengthening it.

"Cool! We have fans!" Eri chirped as she waved to the screaming people beside the limo.

"They're not our fans - they're someone else's!" Kagome cried in exasperation, willing the gates to open just a little bit faster so they could escape all the camera flashes and screaming people. "They probably think we're Joi Ito or something."

"Why, is she coming?" Yuka demanded, hungry for more famous people to meet.

"I don't know. Maybe."

Finally, the limo was waved through the gates by the standby security guards and away they went down the narrow driveway that seemed to stretch a whole mile.

Eri had gone back to chanting "I can't believe it" and Yuka was back to grinning rather maniacally. Ayumi was giggling again.

Kagome had never realised how fangirl-ish her friends were. This was exactly how Inuyasha expected everyone to treat him… no wonder he'd been so shocked when she'd turned on him in the beginning and decided to dislike him. It wasn't that she regretted it or anything; Inuyasha was still pretty much a jerk. At least he was a jerk who was a little nicer to her personally…

Now if she had any financial difficulties later on in life, she knew who to turn to.

The villa drew nearer and Kagome's butterflies increased in number. It was only then that she was actually worried about her friends meeting Inuyasha. What would they say? Would they embarrass themselves or just embarrass Kagome? What would Inuyasha think of her to hang around with such fangirls. They were nice girls… but around rich, famous and good-looking teen icons, they tended to lose their heads a bit…

It was too late to ask the driver to turn around now. They were already pulling up into the main plateau-like driveway in front of the villa.

The multitude of other limos in the driveway was astounding… Kagome hadn't realised just how many stretch vehicles could fit in there. There were already people getting out their limos - women and girls wearing stunning and highly fashionable clothes from top designers and men ranging from old to young who were dressed in casually smart clothes. 

Kagome was, once more, feeling rather overwhelmed and insignificant.

Her friends, on the other hand, seemed to feel over the moon.

"Come on! Come on!"

"Let's get inside!"

"I can't wait to meet him!"

"And everyone else!"

They didn't bother waiting for the driver to get out and open the door for them since patience was none of their virtues. Ayumi haphazardly threw the door open and the girls scrambled out one after another. Yuka grabbed Kagome's arm at the last minute, making sure to drag the reluctant girl with her. "We're not leaving you behind, Kagome." She winked.

Kagome just remained tense as her friends pulled her along, weaving their way between limousines, Porsches and several other expensive cars designed for the rich and famous.

Kagome didn't recognise the people around her who were moving in the general direction of the wide open front doors. Neither did her friends, otherwise they would have been stopping to get an autograph. Instead, they made a beeline straight for the steps, scurrying up them as fast as possible, only to be halted by the bouncer of sorts.

"Name?" Miroku asked with a hint of a poorly suppressed grin.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Don't act like you don't know."

"Kagome Higurashi, isn't it?" Miroku smiled; the epitome of male charm. He ticked off her name on the list in his hands. "And the names of your three guests?"

"Yuka, Eri and Ayumi." Kagome pointed to each in turn.

"And their phone numbers?"

The girls giggled in amusement, probably thinking he was joking. Kagome knew better and quickly ushered them past Miroku and into the villa. The less they knew of Miroku the better. Now all she had to do was to try and separate herself from her friends before they crossed paths with a certain white-haired superstar.

~*~

"Yep, you're on the list, in you go."

"Thank you."

Miroku smiled as he let the rather lovely Joi Ito inside. If Kikyo hadn't warned him that Inuyasha had first priority to her, he would have asked for her number, too. Not that it mattered, since he already had someone else in mind…

But she hadn't arrived yet according to his list.

"How's it going?" Sango asked as she appeared beside him. "The place is practically bursting at the seams… there can't be many more people coming, right?" She sounded tired and drained already.

"Still got about fifty guests pending." Miroku estimated, eyeing his clipboard. "But it's not guaranteed that they'll show. Sometimes they drop out at the last minute."

"Good!" Sango said, folding her arms. "We already have more than four thousand people in this place and they all seem to be in the classic room."

"Make sure they don't steal anything from in there." Miroku flicked through the list to one name in particular. "Man… I sure hope Jacky Tai turns up tonight…"

"Who?" Sango asked in a slightly shrewdly, leaning over to look at the name. "Who's she?"

"The woman I'm going to marry."

Sango stared at him dryly. "Oh? Have you even met her yet?"

"No. But that's not important." Miroku said flippantly. "She's the perfect woman for me! When Kikyo gave me the guest list, I checked out her name and you know what?"

She sighed. "What?"

"She owns a seventh of the chain of those crystal restaurants that everyone's raving about! I bet she makes a mint! She's single, rich, not too famous and likes Dido. We're soul mates, I know it."

"Right. Sure." Sango turned to go back inside. "But when she turns up with wrinkles a couple of harelips don't come running to me."

"I bet she's gorgeous." Miroku chortled. "I won't be running anywhere except into her arms."

A shadow fell across him and he looked up.

An astoundingly leggy, fantastically blonde woman stood before him. Eight feet of leg and a head on top, real model material. She wore a purple dress that swept the steps behind her and a pair of dark yellow shades that hid her eyes. "Kojin Adia." She announced herself.

A shame she wasn't Jacky Tai because Miroku was sure that this girl could be his soul mate, too. "Kojin…" He ran a finger down the list. "Oh yes. Go right inside."

"Thank you so much." She smiled and went on ahead.

~*~

It had been easier to lose her friends than she'd thought. The moment they had spotted their favourite actor from their favourite soap opera, they'd dashed off to get an autograph, leaving Kagome with the perfect opportunity to slip away. She'd half-heartedly been searching for Inuyasha, but with the multitude of people now swamping the villa, she had no idea where to begin.

She was too distracted by all the famous and familiar faces she saw around her.

For some reason, she wound up in the classic room. Kagome looked around for a moment, trying to pick out a white haired guy among the dozens of multicolour she saw. A woman over by the window had bright red hair and two silver haired gentlemen were chatting away by the glass cabinet of awards and trophies. But Kagome didn't spot her Inuyasha and sighed in defeat.

Looking around, she also noticed how fake everything seemed. Nearly everyone who was smilingwasn't _really _smiling. After Miroku's tutoring on how to give the most genuine smile, she could easily pick out who was just wearing a pleasant mask. Barely anyone's smile reached their eyes…

People were all making an effort to dress in the most noticeable and sometimes downright weird ways to be the centre of attention. The few people who had established their place at the top of this food chain were plain to see… and it was equally plain to see the people trying to suck up to them.

Fame and riches were fickle and it was obvious that everyone in the room was making a real effort to come out on top.

This wasn't so much of a party than an ultra polite game of politics. One wrong step and you could fall off the edge into disaster, but success was apparently worth the risk.

Kagome couldn't even contemplate wanting to live like this…

Forcing a child like Inuyasha into such an existence… no wonder he'd already tried to commit suicide before age twelve.

"Excuse me, are you Kagome Higurashi?" A young woman with purple streaks in her hair caught Kagome's arm.

"Uh… yes." she answered uncertainly. Somehow she doubted that she would ever get used to complete strangers knowing her name.

"Oh hi! I'm Tsuki Hirata, I'm from 'A Song and a Prayer'."

Great. Another soap star actress.

"Oh hi…"

"You're the girl who won the competition, aren't you?" The girl was obviously pitching herself to get a conversation out of Kagome. "I entered that competition, you know."

"Really?" Kagome tried to sound interested.

"Who didn't? Did you know that your chances of winning the lottery were much better?" The actress smiled. "Maybe you should invest in a couple of lottery tickets?"

"Maybe."

"Hey, Daisuke!" the actress called out to some guy across the room. "Look who's here!"

"Oh, Kagome Higurashi, isn't it?" The guy wandered over.

Kagome seriously wanted to slink off and find Inuyasha, but it was too late. She was trapped now.

"So you spent two weeks with Inuyasha - what was that like?"

"Getting kidnapped? What was that like?"

"Why did you come back for a second week? I thought you were only meant to stay for seven days?"

"How did you escape from the kidnappers?"

"Is it true that Inuyasha actually killed someone?"

More and more people were coming over and no sooner had Kagome entered the room than she was suddenly the centre of attention.

It was extremely uncomfortable.

Despite being under scrutiny, she managed to hold up well enough, answering all the questions that were fired at her and laughing politely at a few of their jokes. Fortunately, she couldn't be topic of conversation all night, especially among such vain narcissists. Eventually the subjects changed…

"This really is a beautiful room, don't you think, Kagome-chan?" the actress whose name Kagome had forgotten asked her.

"Sure is." she replied, looking longingly at the door.

"You know what would really spark up this atmosphere?" The actress wandered away, slipping through the crowds of chattering people who had once been interested in Kagome. "This piano… if someone could play this thing it would really make the life of the party."

"Maybe someone could get Joi Ito down here?" another nameless actor said from nearby.

"No need." Someone drawled from the doorway. "Kagome can play better than her."

Kagome's insides froze as her heart leapt into her throat. Conversation around the room was dwindling to a lull of silence. Ever so slowly she inched around to look behind her.

Inuyasha, of course. A couple of his female groupies had followed him inside. Now he stood only a few metres away, boldly declaring that she could play piano better that the infamous musician Joi Ito.

How did he know that?

"Oh, Inuyasha!" The soap actress with the purple streaks swept forward to greet him. "It's been a while!"

"Sure has, Tacky."

"That's Tsuki." She smiled nonetheless. Kagome couldn't help feel a twitch of annoyance. Why did people take that kind of treatment from him? Just because he was famous didn't give him the right to view everyone as ants.

 "Higurashi-san can play piano?" the guy named Daisuke asked.

Kagome groaned inwardly again. Hadn't they forgotten that by now? "I'm not that good…" she responded modestly, trying to dull their interest.

"Of course you are." Inuyasha interrupted before anyone's attention could wander. "I've heard you."

"Let's have a song then!" Tsuki the actress cheered, as did the majority of people in the classic room who were missing some background music.

Kagome felt the panic beginning to well up inside her. She didn't want to play in front of so many people. She'd never played in front of anyone in her life! She was still reeling from shock that Inuyasha had heard her play. How? When? Why hadn't he said anything earlier?

Maybe it was selfish… but she just didn't want to share her songs with anyone. Plus, she was terrified to do so.

"Come on, Kagome-chan! Let's hear what you've got!"

She opened her mouth, lost as of what to do.

"Just one little song, Higurashi."

"I'm sure you play wonderfully - Inuyasha isn't one to hand out compliments so easily."

Hands were guiding her, ushering her towards the grand piano towards the centre of the room. Kagome didn't have the initiative to pull away. She could risk being a total spoil-sport and put her foot down. But she couldn't bring herself to do that, and before she knew it, she was sat down in front of the lines of black and white keys, listening to a distant roaring of blood in her ears.

Inuyasha was behind her. "Go on. Play that song you normally play." 

Kagome swallowed hard.

She hated him with every fibre of her being right at that moment.

Shaky fingers reached out towards the keys she normally started off with, but she hesitated. The chatter and cajoling was dying down. Everyone was waiting for the wondrous music that could beat Joi Ito.

She could still back out if she really wanted. She could just pull her hands back and get up and apologise…

But she was already playing.

Inuyasha listened as the usual sweet notes of that familiar tune filled the quiet room. The acoustics were much worse than usual, what with so many people filling the enclosed space. But everyone was listening and the music carried well enough.

It was exactly the same tune that she played in the middle of the night when she thought no one was listening.

Except it was falling flat. Lifeless. Emotionless.

It was a hollow imitation of normal playing that surprised him. The tune sounded mechanical. It was like the Blue Danube: Mass produced and played by amateurs everywhere, losing it's individuality and spark. She might as well have been playing it straight out of a book for all the uniqueness and individuality it held. Suddenly, it wasn't her song.

It was just a simple tune.

Her fingers didn't slip once and her timing was perfect… yet Inuyasha couldn't help but shift uncomfortably as the music left him feeling indifferent and rather unaffected. It was hard to believe that this was the tune that had inspired all kinds of emotions in him and made him stay up at night trying to remember how it went.

The last few notes were struck and slowly died. Kagome snatched her hands off the keys as if they burnt as everyone around the room broke into applause.

"That was beautiful!" several people complimented.

They weren't wrong. It _was _a beautiful tune. But it was plain and ugly compared to its usual form.

Kagome smiled, but she seemed timid and flighty all off a sudden. People were gossiping to each other, talking about the song, or talking about completely different things. No sooner had their attention slipped than Kagome scooted off the stool and turned to face him.

He opened his mouth to compliment her, despite feeling short-changed. But his throat seized up when his gaze locked with her cold glare. She was livid.

Whatever he was about to say was forgotten as she pushed past him callously and stormed out the door. No one really noticed her huffy exit apart from him…

He'd upset her?

"Inuyasha!"

He whipped back around and came face to face with a rather recent ex-girlfriend.

"Ruiko!" He blinked in surprise.

As he watched, her face practically dissolved into tears. "How could you?" she whimpered.

"What?"

With a small choked cry and a sniff she tore past him and ran out of the room in much the same way as Kagome.

"Weird…" He began to turn around but bumped straight into ex-girlfriend number two. "Oh… hello, Rushi…"

"Who was she?" she demanded, but her voice wobbled in the same way as her chin. Her eyes were brimming with tears.

"Rushi…" Inuyasha patted her shoulder. "I know breaking up was hard… it was hard on me, too… how about I give you Ruiko's number? She just broke up with her boyfriend, too. Maybe you could help each other through this?"

She huffed and darted out of the room with increasing sniffles. Inuyasha watched her go without much regret. Three upset girls in the space of thirty seconds. That must have been a completely new record…but no sooner had the last girl disappeared out the door than he felt a stone cold aura of malice behind him.

Ever so slowly he turned back around. "Hello… Eiko…"

This actress wasted no time questioning him or crying. She drew back her hand before whipping it against his cheek so hard the cracking sound of palm on face brought the room to complete silence. Inuyasha winced slightly and touched his cheek tentatively. "Glad to see you're handling this well."

"Asshole…" she muttered as she stormed past him and marched straight out of the room.

Inuyasha was left in the stunned silence of the classic room and all its occupants. He smiled and started backing towards the door. "Feel free to talk amongst yourselves." he offered before ducking out.

Once outside in the corridor he rubbed his cheek with a hiss, cursing Eiko and her insane girly strength. But he didn't give a damn about the girlfriends – he just wanted to find Kagome. So far they had only exchanged a few words and she now was back to hating him.

Because she'd played the piano? That was ridiculous. It wasn't like she'd never played in front of anyone before, right? With a talent like that she was probably playing for everyone all the time.

Right?

AN: Alas… Inuyasha… a few shards short of a shikon jewel.


	31. A Cyan Stone

**Author's Notes: **Back again (with another ramble)! My cold's gone so I'm ready to set myself a hard challenge: Finish Dead Famous and Bottled Genius AND Life Exchange before April 2nd when I'll be going to Arizona and _then _moving house the week I get back. So basically there's going to be a heck of a long gap in updates come April so I want to get all the nearly finished fics **finished**.

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the other fics like Rules of Acquisition or Autumn Bane or… that other one I can't remember right now. But let's be realistic. I'm not going to be able to write an entire story in one month, but if I put my mind to it, maybe I can fight my way past that terrible writer's block that's stopping the last few chapters of the other stories from being written.

And yes, the picture currently on my bio is a fanart of Dead Famous – of this chapter in particular actually. And since someone brought it up in the reviews I might as well add that mediaminer.org made me featured artist of the week! Yay! But why?! Still – yay!! 

*gets tackled and strangled by various reader's socks* 

_Readers_: Stop gloating and get on with the damn story!!

*cough* Hey! Some of those weren't clean! Anyway… please don't hold this chapter against me. ^_^;; I get so many complaints of doing mean cliff-hangers that I finally decided to just get off my arse and give you guys a _real _biter of a cliffy. 

It's all for the sake of having our emotions manipulated… but at least you guys now have my permission to freely use the correct term of "Evil Cliffy".

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 31**

**A Cyan Stone**

"Did Kagome come by here?"

"You've lost her again, eh?" Miroku drew up a hand to stifle a yawn. While his job was highly-paid, it could be awfully dull when forced to sit by the front door while everyone else had fun inside. Somehow, he got the odd feeling that Sango had put him up to this, just to keep him from having too much fun with everyone else – or just everyone else who happened to be female. "I haven't seen her."

"Damn…" Inuyasha sighed and leant his arm against the doorway. "Why the hell is she so damn mad…?"

Miroku blinked sleepily into the night. "Can I have a pay raise?" 

"Not till you're thirty-five."

"Hey - last year you said I could get one when I was twenty-one! Pay up already!"

"Just keep an eye on things. If Kagome comes by, don't let her out of your sight." Inuyasha grumbled that last order as he disappeared back inside.

Miroku pursed his lips, already knowing he would let Kagome go wherever the heck she wanted if she turned up. No one refused Miroku a pay raise and got away with it.

Mind-numbing boredom eventually crept over him to the point where he resorted to doodling hang-man pictures beside the names on the guest list. It was a total coincidence that the dead man happened to have pointy, little doggy ears and lots of hair.

A limo pulled up, evidently late. Miroku lifted his head eagerly, hoping with all his might that _this _was Jacky Tai pulling up to the steps; the woman of his dreams.

But the person who stepped out was a man.

With a sigh, Miroku flipped back the pages of the guest list and rose from his seat as the young man came trotting up the steps. Well… possibly a man… he looked very feminine.

"Name?" Miroku asked as he approached.

"Jacky Tai."

Miroku's jaw dropped. "W-what did you say?"

The young man blinked. "Jacky Tai?"

"_You're _Jacky Tai?"

The young man blinked a second time. "Yes?"

A small groan of bitter disappointment escaped Miroku's lips. "Oh… _crap_! She was right! Why can't anything ever go right for me?!" He looked at the guest appealingly. "Your name isn't really Jacky, is it? That's a girl's name!"

"Well, it's short for Jakotsu, I suppose." Jacky pouted his lips slightly. "I changed it a couple of years ago. You seem upset… is anything wrong?"

"Only the fact that I thought you were the perfect woman for me." Miroku said flatly.

"Oh." Jakotsu looked thoughtful, then beamed. "Never mind!"

Miroku watched him flounce past into the villa before suddenly straightening. A new hope had formed. "Wait!" Jacky Tai stopped and looked around at him expectantly. "You're at least gay, right?"

At this Jakotsu frowned slightly. "Actually… yes." He turned completely, attaining a coy expression. "Why… are you?"

Miroku opened his mouth to respond enthusiastically before his voice died on him. With a sigh, his face fell and he slumped back into his chair. "No…" he muttered reluctantly, remembering that he wasn't quite as gay as Sango liked to say he was.

Cé la vie.

~*~

Kagome huffed as she finally managed to escape the elevator. It had been crammed to the seams with people (most of them quite wide and taking up a lot of breathing space for  Kagome). No sooner had she stumbled out then she was cast into another crowd of guests.

There was just no escape from it all.

Maybe she was unconsciously claustrophobic, but had never realised it until she'd been thrust head-first into a jungle of semi-famous to extraordinarily famous people. She was beginning to find it increasingly difficult to take deep, calming breaths. Stray limbs kept hitting her in the side, in the face or the back of her head. No one really saw or noticed her. Maybe if they stopped to actually look, they would realise who she was, but at first glance she was just as insignificant as anyone else who wasn't famous or rich.

This place wasn't for her… why had she even come back here in the first place?

Kagome needed out. She was tired of politely saying "excuse me" to get through the throngs of people milling around the corridors. Instead, her frayed nerves were getting the better of her. She was resorting to pushing her way forcefully through the crowds, not sparing much thought to the indignant sounds from the people she pushed a little too hard. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know how to reach the front door.

"Kagome?!"

This was the last thing she needed. Up ahead, she saw him moving through the crowd in her general direction… but he hadn't seen her yet. It was easier for him to move since the moment people saw him they parted for him like red sea for Moses. Kagome silently cursed her bad luck and changed trajectory, stumbling her way through the stationary guests to the nearest staircase.

"Kagome?! Where is she?!"

A hush fell over the crowd, as often there was when the guests realised they were in the presence of greatness – the greatness being Inuyasha, of course. So naturally, as the guest's attention gradually shifted to Inuyasha's presence, the one person in the entire corridor who was making a fast beeline for the stairs was suddenly very visible.

Inuyasha spotted her. "Kagome! Stop right there!"

His path to Kagome was hindered slightly…

"Inuyasha, won't you check out Seki's tattoo?"

"Inuyasha, can you sign my breasts?" 

"Kagome - don't you dare go down those stairs!"

Kagome ignored him, pushing people harder in her desperation to disappear. But at the same time, the guests were closing in on Inuyasha, preventing him from getting to her without having to resort to the same rough means as Kagome. He was helpless, which was exactly what Kagome needed.

Without even a backward glance, she hurried down the stairs, aiming straight for the front door. There were only a few guests hovering around the entrance hall, and as a result the air seemed much cooler and fresher. Kagome would have just gone straight through the door had she not spotted a rather intense argument going on between Miroku and Kikyo, right in the doorway. There was no way she would get round those two, no matter how oblivious they were to their surroundings.

With a vaguely frustrated sigh, she spun on her heel and headed to the only other place she knew would be devoid of people.

The kitchens.

~*~

"How could you let this happen?!"

"YOU wrote the guest list - I should be asking you the same question!"

"KOJIN!" Kikyo snapped as she snatched the guest list off the temporary bouncer and jabbing a finger at the name. "ADIA! Say it backwards, Miroku!"

"I get your point already!" Miroku huffed angrily, already unnerved and slightly disorientated. "What the hell is Jinko Aida doing on the guest list anyway, anagram or not?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Kikyo sighed heavily, running a hand through her bangs. "It was kind of obvious though - why did you let her through?"

"I have no idea what she looks like! Besides, it's not like I was expecting her to show up. Isn't she supposed to be with the police?" Miroku hissed in an irritable tone.

"As far as I know."

"What are you doing putting her on the list anyway?"

"I _didn't _put her on the list, you moron!" Kikyo snapped back, slapping the guest list down onto the chair Miroku had previously been sitting on. "Well, you know what this means. She's planning to pull something tonight, and we can't let that happen. I'm calling the police."

"Shouldn't we warn the guests about this?" Miroku asked, shifting his stance slightly.

Kikyo glanced briefly inside the entrance of the hall, scanning over the guests before her. None matched Jinko Aida's description… "No, I don't think we should do that. It might panic people and we don't need to make a disaster of this night - at least not any more than it already is."

"Jeez… you act like it's the end of the world." Miroku said dryly, diverting his gaze.

"You can leave the doors. Go find the person who you let in - the one calling herself Kojin. When you find her; apprehend her. In the mean time I'll wait for the police to arrive."

"Good luck. It's Saturday night – they're all down at the doughnut shop."

Kikyo's heel snapped against the floor in a flare of anger. "Get going!"

She really did have the most appalling people skills at times, no matter how she boasted to be able to talk her way out of any situation. Miroku simply rolled his eyes at her attitude and slunk off back into the house in search of Sango. Hopefully, she would aid in his search for the suspicious blonde woman in the purple dress.

~*~

Inuyasha glanced at his watch impatiently. He'd already been detained for a quarter of an hour by this mob of people. Who knew how far Kagome could have scampered by now? It was time for a few diversionary tactics.

"Oh my god!" Inuyasha suddenly cried, pointing to the far end of the hall. "It's Elton John!"

"What?"

"Where?!"

Heads turned and the spotlight was gone for a brief moment, but that was all he needed. Quietly, he ducked between the guests and all but ran for the stairs as everyone ridiculously craned their necks to see down the opposite end of the hallway. In the time it took people to realise that Elton John really hadn't come to the party, Inuyasha was gone.

There was a general degree of shrugging before everyone got back to whatever they'd been discussing before the interruption.

When Inuyasha arrived in the entrance hall, he winced to see the front door wide open with no one guarding it. What if Kagome had just run off outside? He headed over to take a brief look outside, searching the distant grounds and the extensive driveway for signs of a running girl in a pink dress…

But maybe Kagome hadn't got to the running away stage yet. She was just mad… she'd probably slithered off to sulk in a quiet, dark place.

For a moment, he had to stand and ponder that thought… a dangerous thing to do when a fangirl could jump on his back at any moment with his guard down. Normally, the classic room was the quietest place in the villa… but that was currently the busiest. However… the kitchens?

Inuyasha quickly made his way to the swinging doors that marked the entrance of the kitchen…

Sure enough, there she was in all her pink glory, currently rifling through the fridge.

"So what's got your hackles raised this time, babe?"

Kagome straightened so quickly she narrowly avoided hitting her head on the upper shelf of the fridge. For a moment, she look stunned and guilty, as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar (somewhat literally in this case). But then the wide, innocent eyes narrowed to slits, and the hand braced against the fridge door let it slam shut with a sound thud.

She was not a happy bunny.

Perhaps the 'Babe' comment was a bit too much in this instance?

"_You _have got a lot of nerve!" she hissed, stalking towards him.

Inuyasha refrained from the urge to back away. "Oh, _I_ have the nerve, do I? What the hell is your problem?"

"You just embarrassed me in front of a whole room of people! THAT'S my problem!" she all but yelled. "Did you even _care _how I felt about playing in front of those people?"

"Big deal!" he shouted back. "You're a good penis-"

"_Pianist!_"

"-so what the fuck is wrong with playing in front of others?!" he finished without even the slightest indication he'd heard her correction. "You obviously have talent!"

She stamped her foot in exasperated anger. "I've never played in front of anyone before! It's my talent - so I can do whatever the hell I like with it! And I didn't want to share it with _THEM!_"

"But they liked your song!"

"That doesn't-!" she broke up, obviously fighting for words. "That isn't the point! It was _my _song… it was just mine…"

"Well that's a bit selfish, don't you think?" he countered.

For a moment, she glared at him in a calculating kind of way before she lifted her chin. "Whatever. You don't understand - you'll never be able to understand. You've been stripped so many times in public that you're used to it - you can't even begin to comprehend that someone like me actually wants to keep her talent to herself. Meanwhile people like you flaunt everything they have to anyone who will look!"

"I do not strip!" he barked indignantly.

"You don't understand me at all!" she cried, throwing up her hands in defeat. "I don't know why I'm bothering with you."

With that, she stormed past him and out of the doors. Inuyasha didn't give her much of a chance to get a head start as he followed, hot on her heels. "What's so wrong with playing a little tune in public?" he demanded as they marched through the entrance hall as if they had a destination in mind, but in reality they were aimless.

 "You have no idea what it's like for me, do you?" she snapped over her shoulder. "That was _my _song! I've never shared it with anyone! But obviously you've been spying on me while I was playing-"

"I wasn't spying!"

"You heard though, right?"

"Maybe."

"Then you're a complete and total voyeur!" she tossed back to him.

"What?!"

Kagome sharply veered to the left, taking the nearest exit out of the entrance hall… which unfortunately turned out the be the classic room. The source of all their current ills…

"Run that by me again." He followed her through the dense crowd, not sure why she was still storming off when she obvious had herself painted into a corner. "How can hearing one little tune be perverted?"

Kagome slowed to a halt then turned back to him with a slightly pinched expression. "That song is my heart, Inuyasha. Whenever I play it… I don't know how to explain it but… when I play it, I can feel my emotions in the melody. It's just for me to hear… not anyone else. It's the only song I really know…"

"But…" he floundered for something equally as intelligent to say. "… it's really good."

Her reproachful look faded slightly with the hint of a smile, but it was only a brief glimpse of gratitude. "I still didn't want to share it with them… it's not for them. The Fur Elise is for them… the Moonlight Sonata… but my song is my song and you shouldn't have made me do that."

"I didn't make you do anything." he responded hotly. "Ultimately it was your choice to sit down on that stool… besides, how was I supposed to know that's how you felt?"

Kagome lowered her eyelids. "Don't try and shift the blame to me – it won't work. Though I guess you can't be expected to be all that emotionally deep."

"Charming."

With a soft sigh, Kagome turned and headed away once more, this time in the direction of the ground floor balcony beyond the glass doors. Inuyasha hesitated a moment. Maybe she wanted privacy… but then again, he'd rather continue irritating her than be stuck in a crowd of wannabe superstars. He slipped through the crowd after her.

Kagome was sitting on the low stone bench beside the ivy-covered railing when he stepped out onto the vacant balcony. She was kicking her feet against a dirt stain on the floor and generally looking as if the world was destined to come to an end. Perhaps she needed cheering up?

"I don't care what you say." he said as he sat down beside her. "I like your song… it made me feel… weird."

"Weird?" She didn't look all that sure if it was a compliment or not.

"You know… when songs make you feel something. They move you. Like when you're listening to your favourite song and the tiny hairs on your arms kinda tingle." He wrinkled his nose slightly. Communication had never been one of his strong points. "It was like that. When I heard your song, it really got me in the chest… but I'll be damned if I could remember how the tune went."

"I forget sometimes." Kagome admitted. "I can't remember how it goes… but when I play, my fingers seem to remember, even if I don't."

He glanced at her. "It's a nice song."

A small smile perked her lips. "Thanks."

"Though maybe you could broaden your horizons. With a talent like that, maybe you really could rival Joi Ito." He shrugged.

Now it was Kagome's turn to wrinkle her nose. "I know my limits… I'm not that good."

"Yeah, right." He frowned down at her, noticing how she nervously fiddled with the ring on her thumb. "You could at least get used to playing in front of other people?"

She gave an uneasy sound in the back of her throat. "I don't know… I'm already embarrassed that you heard me… even more so that all those people now know… I just don't think I'm ready." Kagome straightened slightly. "Although, when I'm at home and everyone else is away, I play the piano and pretend that there is someone behind me, listening, even though I know there really isn't. It kinda… it feels more rewarding when I feel as if I'm playing to someone else… though actually taking that step to have a _real _person behind me is a whole different story."

A deep rumble in the clouds above them interrupted the conversation. They both glanced upwards at the ominously dark sky. Not a single star could be seen through the thick blanket of black clouds roiling up there.

"It's going to ra~ain…" Kagome sighed in a sing-song voice.

"Nah, it's just some dead dude playing ten-pin bowling." Inuyasha shrugged, even though he could already hear the distant patter of rain drops further up the coast.

Kagome suddenly turned to face him, her knees bumping his, but her eyes were fixed on the ring on her thumb. "What kind of stone is this?"

"What?" He glanced down at the ring in question.

"This blue stone, what is it? A Sapphire or a blue diamond?" she asked, looking up at him searchingly.

"Uh…" He cocked his head. "That's my mom's ring, right? I think she said it was a diamond… but it could be a sapphire, I don't know." He looked her in the eyes. "Does it matter?"

They fell into one of those little, quiet lapses of silence. He almost felt she had expected him to say more, but evidently failing that, she turned her eyes back to the ring. The expression on her face was torn as if coming to a difficult decision.  "Inuyasha…" Ever so carefully, she tugged the ring off her thumb, grabbed his hand and placed the little circle of silver into his upturned palm. "I can't keep this."

He frowned at the ring. "Why not?"

"It just seems too much to take. I mean… it's a diamond _and _it used to belong to your mother." She squirmed uncomfortably where she sat. "It doesn't seem right."

"Kagome, my mom's dead. She's not going to be wearing that ring ever again. In fact, no one will… until I die and my belongings get auctioned off… and then it will be some middle-aged fat cat who winds up wearing that ring. Then it will mean nothing to no one." He passed it back to her. "And I'm sure as hell not going to keep wearing it. It's a girls' ring."

"But it's a-"

"Does that really matter?" he scoffed.

"What if I lose it?"

"Well, you'll probably want to kick yourself, but it's no skin off my nose."

That uncertain look remained, even as she let the ring slip back over her thumb. "Ok… if I must."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Damn, don't force yourself or anything."

She opened her mouth with a smile to respond when the balcony door suddenly swung open.

They both looked up to see the actress with the purple streaks standing there. "Inuyasha, Joi Ito's here - come say 'hello'!" She disappeared back inside.

Kagome frowned slightly as Inuyasha stood up. "What's all this Joi Ito stuff I keep hearing?" She stood and followed him towards the open doorway. Inside, it was evident that someone had managed to find a sound system because now the room was practically bouncing with heavy base rhythms. "If I didn't know any better I'd say you two were a couple."

"Not to my knowledge." He stopped at the doorway, sussing out the crowd, looking for said musician. "I suppose it's expected though… Joi Ito is breaking out into the prime of her career. I'd say she's probably the most famous eligible spinster in the country. The tabloids would have a fucking field day if they could devise a story in which we get together."

Kagome fidgeted. "So you're interested in her?"

"Nah…" he shook his head. "She's nice and, well, perfect, but she doesn't have that extra 'umph', you know?"

"No, I don't know." She looked at him strangely. "Then you probably have someone else in mind. You haven't got your sights set on Jordan have you?"

He grinned. "No. Someone a bit more mundane than that."

"Oh?" her interest was piqued and she couldn't help the coy smile. "Who is she?"

His grin remained but he briefly glanced at her with a quirk in his lips. "You."

The expression on Kagome's face slid to blank shock. She stared at him, not quite sure she'd heard that right but at the same time struggling as of how to respond. Her mouth opened slightly, but the only soft noise she could make sounded suspiciously like. "Wha…?"

The grin had slipped from Inuyasha's face as well, changing into a slight grimace. "Never mind." He said with a dismissive shrug and marched back indoors.

Kagome stood, her lips parted in a small gape as she watched him depart. What had he said? He was interested in _her_?

A numb feeling of shock stole over her. Everything seemed surreal, reality was warped and the sounds of laughter and music inside was blurring together into one continuous moan of pure noise. The silver ring on her thumb was beginning to gain weight. The cold metal pressed against her skin, tearing her attention away from whatever space she had been staring into.

Above her, the heavens finally decided to open with one last groaning rumble. Spatters of moisture began raining down around Kagome, picking up speed and momentum until the small droplets began bouncing hard off her skin.

But Kagome hardly took in any of this as she thoughtfully slipped the silver ring off her thumb and slid it down her fourth finger instead. It was oversized and hung loosely around her ring finger, unlike it had done for Inuyasha… but still…

The rain was begin to pick up intensity again and it was only then that Kagome suddenly realised where she was standing and just how wet she was getting. With a blink and a little shake of her head to clear the rain running down her face, she quickly stepped back inside the classic room.

The warmth and chatter hit her full in the face like it was the first time she'd ever entered that room. Bodies moved all around her, just one big wall of people and small movement that blocked her view of the rest of the room. She saw a glimpse of silver between the guests and immediately, and almost instinctively, headed in that direction.

~*~

"Tell you what. You get your agent to call my agent and we can let them sort it out tomorrow, right?"

Joi Ito nodded with a light shrug of acceptance. "Sounds good to me, but… oh…"

Someone was tugging at the back of Inuyasha's shirt. Distractedly, Inuyasha looked down. "Oh hello, Kagome. You're looking a bit wet."

She also looked slightly perturbed. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm in the middle of something."

"Now." Her voice was lined with deadly calm, and a subtle 'or else' vibe. Inuyasha stared at her a moment before turning back to Ito with a slight smile. "Must go." He allowed himself to be dragged by the sleeve away from Joi Ito, through the throngs of guests and out into the entrance hall that was ever so slightly less crowded. He wondered why she wasn't taking him outside to get the privacy she so obviously craved… but maybe that was the reason why she was so wet in the first place?

"What is it?" He asked, the perfect image on nonchalance when she finally let go of his sleeve next to the bottom of the stairs. It was about as far away from anyone else as they could manage.

"What did you mean when you said 'you'?" she scrutinised him, pushing a few of her wet bangs out of her face.

He shrugged. "Nothing." He lied.

"You're lying."

"No, I'm not." He lied again.

A small frown tugged between her eyebrows and he shifted uncomfortably. He knew he shouldn't have said anything earlier… but it had just slipped out…

And what was worse?

He knew that at the very moment he'd said it, it had been nothing but the complete truth. He recognised that fact with a reluctant queasy feeling in his stomach…

What a kick in the goolies…

"So you were just joking?" Kagome folded her arms with a deepening frown. "That's not very funny, you know."

"I know." He said, being dismissive of her feelings in favour of his own. "I'm always messing around, you know that."

It must have been something about his tone, because he knew his expression had been schooled and fool-proof. Though Kagome had already proven herself to be an unnaturally perceptive person. Slowly her frown lightened until she was giving him a very confused look indeed. "Inuyasha…?" she stepped closer, cocking her head to the side. "Are you telling the truth?"

"Yes. Why?" He responded abruptly.

"You have your lying voice."

"I don't have a lying voice."

"You just used it right there!" her arms dropped back to her sides. "I thought we've been through this! Stop trying to pretend everything's ok when it's not! I'm fed up with all this stupid little acts you keep putting up in order to hide what you're really thinking - it may work with everyone else but it won't with me."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Jeez, Mom."

"Don't give me that!" she visibly had to make an effort to keep her voice down as her tone was already arousing suspicion from the nearest guests a few metres away. "Whatever the hell you're hiding - spit it out."

_Make me_. Inuyasha flicked a scowl at her. "Bog off. It's none of your business."

"That's rich coming from the person who just made my talent everyone else's business!"

"Hey - you didn't have to play that song - you can't keep bringing that up!"

They were just going to go around in one big circle if Kagome didn't gain control of the argument again. With a deep sigh she reined in her temper and gave him a look that clearly told him that she wasn't going to be taking any more of his crap. "So what's the matter this time."

He wasn't going to escape this one, was he? With a small, barely audible sigh, he shifted his footing and folded his arms. "Maybe I meant what I said when I said I was interested in you." Now he had the entire pleasure of watching her flounder at that comment.

"Oh… um… oh…" she managed intelligently. Her face was turning a rather delightful shade of pink and her fingers fidgeted restlessly against her sides. "Well…"

He waved it off. "Don't worry about it." He told her bluntly. "They're my feelings, I'll deal with them. No point getting you worked up over nothing."

Her face flushed with anger rather than embarrassment. "That isn't _nothing_." She reprimanded. "You can't just say that and act like it's _nothing_."

"Well what else am I supposed to do? I don't-" he broke off as someone moved past him on their way up the stairs. The minute they were safely out of ear-shot he began again. "I've fucked up all my chances with you, haven't I."

"Why… what makes you say that?" she began looking uncomfortable.

"Well I have, haven't I?" At her blank look he continued. "You're way out of my league, Kagome. You don't want to spend your time with an idiot who can't seem to stop smoking, or stop the drugs or stop contemplating suicide. You deserve better than to get stuck with an idiot like me."

She looked away, as if ever so slightly ashamed.

"I could give you anything you ever wanted. I could give you a hundred cars - a private helicopter - I could even get you all the plastic surgery you wanted and make you the most beautiful woman in the world-"

"Hey-!"

"Even though you're only like the fifteenth most beautiful girl in the world." He quickly amended. "Point is I can give you anything you wanted… but I can offer you nothing that could tempt you in the slightest."

Maybe he was wrong? Maybe this was where she lifted her chin and defied all that and told him that she didn't care about any of his problems or bad habits and could take him as he was.

He knew better than to get his hopes up.

"Inuyasha, how do I know that the first time you someone prettier and better, you won't just run off?" she was beginning to get upset. "That's how it works for you, isn't it? You keep one girlfriend, but the minutes someone walks by in a shorter skirt you'll drop her in a minute and move on. Then the same happens all over again."

He leaned back from her with a shrug. "Maybe that would happen. I can't control my feelings so I don't know how long they'd last. I'm just telling it like it is. I care about you. Sorry… if that offends you."

Kagome looked up at him with beginnings of tears smouldering in her eyes. But the minute her gaze locked with his she diverted it past him. Her eyes widened and her face slackened in shock. Her mouth opened in a scream. "Inuya-!!"

A sound rang off in the large entrance hall, like the sound of a hard book being slammed against a table in a library. The sound echoed the cut short as his head split in an unbelievable surge of pain. It felt like his skull had been cracked open.

There was a distant sound of mass screaming, but it was like it came from another room. His eyes slid closed with only a mild grimace as his body went numb, losing feeling in a sudden but rather gentle sweep. The cold marble of the floor felt remarkably soft when he landed… but everything seemed to be happening so slowly.

Something warm was trickling down his face and neck, pooling on the cold floor beneath him. He put a hand to the side of his head, trying to stem the flow, but he already knew from the cold feeling that spread from his chest that he was pretty much beat.

What a way to die…

~*~

Kagome had screamed the minute the gun had gone off. Inuyasha had gone down. The guests had fled to the exits like a swarm of rats abandoning a sinking ship and Jinko Aida had grabbed Kagome before she could even reach down to help Inuyasha.

The tears were already coursing down her face but she barely registered the cool tip of the handgun pressed to her temple for a second time. She couldn't reach Inuyasha and that made her cry all the harder.

AN: I'm just going to get my flame proof anorak in preparation for feedback… man, I haven't used this thing since Bottled Genius!


	32. Treading Shallow Waters

**Author****'****s Notes: ***peels of a slightly crispy flame proof anorak* "Flame proof" my ass… 

Ok, this is probably the second to last chapter. So the reason why it's so short is because it was originally one chapter, but I broke it down into two, partly because I didn't really want to spring the ending on you guys so soon without a warning, and also because I didn't really want to add anything more to this chapter or else the ending would lose its impact. So prepare for a long last chapter the next time I update ^__^

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 32**

**Treading Shallow Waters**

Kikyo sighed as she snapped her flip-phone shut and slipped it back into her pocket. "The police said that Jinko Aida was allowed out on temporary bail by her brother. They ordered a twenty-four hour surveillance of her house, but it looks like she slipped past their officers. They're sending a couple patrol cars down here now with Detective Sano."

"She's gotta be around here somewhere." Sango reasoned, her anxiety beginning to verge on irritation – most of which she aimed at Miroku. "This is all your fault, you know."

"What?" He didn't need to contrive too hard to look wronged. "I'm not the one who put her name on the guest list."

"Any blind fool could have seen that Kojin Adia was Aida Jinko spelt backwards!" Kikyo snapped at him, ignoring the slightly alarmed looks she was receiving off the guests around them. Perhaps holding this rather unstable conversation in the middle of the first floor corridor was not the best place after all…

"Well, this is in no way my fault." Miroku folded his arms sternly. "How was I supposed to know what she looked like? Plus, I thought she was being held by the police. The last person in the world I expected to turn up to a party like this was Jinko Aida."

Sango sighed in her own reluctance. "He has a point."

Kikyo looked coldly at her watch. "The police will be arriving shortly." She turned to head for the stairs. "I'll go-"

A scream split the air – one which sounded suspiciously like the beginning of Inuyasha's name – but it was cut off halfway through by the second sound of an even louder gunshot.

All movement in the corridor ceased as it began to dawn on the guests what they had just heard. Then the panic rose, and before Miroku or his two female companions could fully grasp the situation, they were already caught in the middle of a stampede. People began fleeing down the corridor, heading in all directions save for the stairs.

"This way," Kikyo snapped out the quick order as she pushed her way through the panicking crowds towards the elevator. Sango and Miroku weren't too far behind, and with all the guests using the stairs to quickly move to the upper floors, there was no one in the elevator to argue about floors with.

"That was a gun!" Sango hissed as the doors slid closed and the lift began moving down at an agonisingly slow pace.

"Three guesses?" Kikyo asked dryly.

The elevator finally stopped at the ground floor and the three employees waited with baited breath… yet they weren't quite prepared for what the doors opened to, though none of them were all that surprised.

The entrance hall was empty of guests except for one tall, blonde woman in a purple dress who held a trembling Kagome against her front like a human shield. A black handgun rested against the girl's temple, assuring her immobility. But at least she was alive and shivering… which was more than could be said for Inuyasha.

Sango stifled a gasp with her hand as she retreated a step back into the elevator. "Oh god… she killed him…"

Miroku's arm gently moved in front of her, preventing her from doing anything rash, or maybe just trying to shield her from Jinko Aida's view. The blonde watched the trio with a serenely indifferent expression. She seemed completely unaware and untroubled by what she'd just done.

Kikyo was the only one who managed to hold her steely resolve as she took a few measured steps out of the elevator into the entrance hall. Her heels clicked against the marble in a slow, steady pace that echoed through the empty foyer. She held her hands out to the side, cautiously approaching. "Please… let her go."

"This is a hostage situation." Jinko answered in a clear, mellow voice. "I can't do that."

Somewhere in the distance, through all the rain and thundering clouds, the sound of a siren faded into existence. Either Jinko didn't hear the approaching reinforcements, or had just chosen to ignore them.

"The police are on their way." Kikyo told the young woman in case she was slightly deaf to the wailing sirens that were quickly growing louder. "There is no chance for you to get away now… unless you put the gun down and run. Run fast."

Jinko shook her head slightly, cocking back the hammer of her handgun gently. Kagome clenched her eyes tightly shut as if in a silent prayer. Jinko was oblivious to her apparent fear. "I don't intend to leave this place. At least not alive."

Kikyo's gaze slid from the terrorist and her hostage to where the first casualty already lay at the foot of the stairs. A morbid puddle of red had already pooled around his head. There was no doubt about just where he'd been shot; an inch or so above where a normal human ear would be placed. Not that Kikyo could see the wound. Inuyasha's head was turned away and he was resting on his damaged side… from where she stood, Kikyo couldn't tell whether or not he was still alive. But Miroku had already warned that one bullet in the head was really all that was needed to take down the 'mighty' hanyou.

"You." Jinko's observations had landed on Sango, who glowered ferociously back at the blonde. "Go outside and greet the police when they arrive. Tell them that if they enter too soon, I will kill this girl as well." She flicked a glance at Miroku as an afterthought. "And maybe him too."

Sango didn't move.

"Please… if you do not leave now, you will only add to the body count." Jinko Aida told her softly.

Sango still remained reluctant to leave. Miroku gave her a gentle nudge. "Go." he said quietly.

"But-"

"We'll take care of it." he cut her off and gestured towards the open doorway. "Now go."

Sango blinked at him in bewilderment, probably not at all happy that she was going to be snubbed from such a situation. But in the end her common sense won over and she headed for the doors. 

"And shut the door on your way out." Jinko reminded bluntly.

The doors closed with a curt thud after Sango, and once more the entrance hall was plunged into an eerie calm and quietness. The closed doors protected against the sound of the rain outside, as well as the approaching police.

The silence was nearly unbearable. The guests upstairs and in the other rooms still hadn't gained the courage to investigate yet; either that, or security had kicked in and locked the doors. But Jinko was making no move or gesture to follow up with her threats, and Kikyo was at a bit of a loss of how to deal with her.

Kagome broke the silence.

"Why are you doing this?" she whispered, her voice strained with tears and suppressed sobs. "Why couldn't you just leave him alone?!"

Jinko's eyes remained on Kikyo, pretending she didn't hear the girl in her arms.

"I told him it was over!" Kagome's words caught as her breath hitched unevenly with emotion. "I t-told him that there was no need to be scared anymore because-"

"Because he'd killed Fushira?" Jinko snapped harshly.

Kagome sniffled slightly. "Yes…" she said quietly. "But he deserved it!!"

"He did not!"

"He tortured a little boy! He didn't even do it for money – he just did it for his own amusement!" Kagome cried. "Someone sick like Fushira probably deserved to be killed!"

"Not to mention…" Kikyo added quietly. ".… all the people who were found dead in the warehouse where Inuyasha was recovered. Multiple members of a rival gang… old neighbours he didn't particularly get on with… a few old bosses who fired him. Even two of his own cousins. They didn't deserve to die, and I think that Fushira's punishment fit the crime perfectly, don't you think?"

The tip of the gun wavered uncertainly for a moment between Kagome's temple and Kikyo's direction. But then it was back, firmly planted to Kagome's head. "I loved him… and he _died_! Do you know how much it is killing me inside?!"

Kikyo shrugged. "I don't particularly care."

"You think it didn't kill Inuyasha to pull that trigger?!" Kagome clawed at Jinko's arm that braced her against the woman's front, but it was futile. Her despair was making her feeble and hopeless and Jinko's anger only made her stronger.

"At least he suffers no more!" Jinko snarled. "And soon I'll be where they are… and you too. You're in pain, aren't you?"

"I…" Kagome couldn't manage any more than that. Not that she was given much chance to continue…

A deep rumble shook the foundations of the building… emanating from somewhere above their heads and reverberating downwards. The conscious members in the entrance hall looked around in confusion.

Was that just lightning or…?

The ceiling above groaned, followed by the sound of cracking timber and screaming guests. They turned their eyes heavenward in dumb bemusement as the tiled roof literally began swelling and dipping. Tiles cracked and splintered, and some even began falling, raining down around the group.

A  tile shattered close to Kikyo's feet but she didn't dare flinch or move her gaze from the ceiling.

She had a bad feeling about this.

Then a scream sounded, confirming her worst fears. **_"_**_BULLSEYE!!__"_And with that, the ceiling caved in completely as a gaping hole in the tiles opened up directly above Jinko and her hostage.

Water cascaded by the tonne upon the pair.

Neither had the fleeting chance to even scream as the full force of the waterfall hit them head on and crushed them both to the floor. It was like having a couple bags of potatoes dropped directly on the head. Kagome crashed to the floor, spluttering and winded, trying to drag in air that was continually pushed away by the water. Jinko's grip was gone and so had the gun, so Kagome wasted no time in scrambling away. Her hands and knees skidded on the slippery marble, but it only took a moment to break free of the downpour to kneel, shivering, in a steadily growing pool of water. It was already up to her ankles…

"What on earth is…" Kikyo had resorted to removing her heels or else risk slipping and breaking her neck.

The water continued to pour down in torrents, washing away the odd napkin that had been dropped like little sailing boats on a lake. Kagome wobbled to her feet, oblivious to the fact that she was now drenched head to toe with a dress that clung to her like a wrinkly second skin.

Her eyes were on Jinko.

The gun was gone from her hands, probably dropped during the downpour. She was drenched as well, but like Kagome, she didn't seem to care. She was tottering towards Inuyasha looking pale and drained… she looked like she was in shock.

The water from the continuing downpour lapped against him gently, dragging the red pigment of the blood away from it's puddle as the water met it. Rather than diluting the blood, it only seemed to intensify it's vibrant shade as the liquid around Inuyasha's head turned crimson.

"Inu-chan…" Jinko whispered as she drew nearer.

"Don't touch him." Kagome snapped bitterly, taking a step in her direction. She was ignored.

"Inu-"

"**Don****'****t touch him!**" Kagome screamed, splashing a few steps further.

Jinko was already crouching down beside the fallen superstar, hands hovering above him as if uncertain whether or not to disturb him. "Inu-chan… what have I done to you…?"

Kagome was seeing red. She was also seeing a rather tempting looking handgun in the water a few feet to her right. Without a second thought, she snatched it up and levelled it at Jinko Aida's back. "I'll shoot you! I swear to god I'll shoot you if you touch him!"

"Kagome!" Miroku moved forward to stop her, but Kikyo caught the back of his shirt. Evidently she didn't care all that much for Jinko's safety, or felt any interfering would set Kagome off the deep end.

As if that hadn't already happened.

Jinko reached down, touching Inuyasha's shoulder, gently turning him on his side.

Kagome's agitated fingers slipped against the wet gun, but she didn't shoot… no matter how much she was determined to carry out her threat. It was pointless – she was going to be ignored and overlooked…

"Oh god…" Jinko's voice was a choked whisper as she finally got an eyeful of the damage she'd inflicted. "I didn't mean to – I'm sorry – please forgive me!"

Kagome's teeth ground together. "Don't you dare touch him!!" With a frustrated sound, she tossed the gun away into the dwindling downpour of water beside her and ran at Jinko's turned back. She didn't care about anything other than protecting Inuyasha. Adrenaline and anger turned the tables. Soon Jinko found herself torn forcefully away from Inuyasha and sprawled backwards into the water a few feet away.

She retaliated as soon as she had her senses back in order. The moment Kagome was close enough, she grabbed the girl by the leg and dragged her down into the water. They tousled and spat, tore at each other's hair and tried to push the other underwater.

Despite their adrenaline-fuelled strength, they were no match for Miroku. He first made a grab for Kagome, pushing her away from the fight in order to then grab Jinko and hold her down. Kikyo slipped forward in order to help and together they managed to haul the sopping wet blonde to her feet.

"Let me go!" she spat at them, but was unable to free her arms to break loose.

"I doubt you'll be allowed bail now, Aida." Kikyo said calmly. "Let's get her out of here."

"I think the police are already here…" Miroku muttered as they both half-lifted, half-dragged Jinko towards the front door.

Kagome watched their progress for a moment from where she sat in six inch deep water. They couldn't hold her attention for long, as she quickly got to her feet and waded her way back to Inuyasha's side.

She collapsed on her knees beside him with a  splash. Jinko Aida had turned him over… and it was hard to miss the wound through the matted, red mess of wet hair. No way in hell could anyone have survived that… not even Inuyasha, apparently.

"Inuyasha…?" she whispered as she crept closer, hesitant to touch him in case she broke him any further. "Inuyasha, please sit up…"

He remained pale, limp and pretty much lifeless.

Kagome clenched her fingers in the front of his wet shirt. "Inuyasha – open your eyes." she said a little louder. "Please – just show me you're ok!"

Her only reply was silence.

Tears welled up with a hard lump in Kagome's throat. She couldn't stop the pressure from building and began to cry. "Inuyasha!" she begged, wrapped an arm around his shoulders to drag him into her lap. "Inuyasha – I'll fish your stupid fat head out of every toilet for the rest of your life if you'd please sit up! I'll let you smoke all the damn cigarettes you want! Just – move!" She gave him a trembling shake as her grief and despair spiralled to desperate heights. "Move! Move! Move! **MOVE!**" 

With a cry she hunched over him, clawing at his shoulders, shaking him, screaming at him to show he was alive. "Anything!"

"Kagome…" Miroku was back and he wasn't alone. Several police officers along with Detective Sano had entered the hall and were approaching slowly and carefully. A highly distressed girl was something to be treated with extreme caution. Miroku stopped a few metres away from the shaking girl. "Is… is he…?" His voice shook slightly, despite his bravado exterior.

"He's dead!" Kagome cried, completely anguished and lost. "She shot him and he's dead!"

Miroku's face fell a little… dismay and grief appeared in his expression.

Well… it wasn't like a superstar's life expectancy was particularly impressive…

Kagome was broken hearted. She had gone back to shaking him as she rocked back and forth, pleading with some invisible force to make it all better. She wasn't accepting that he was gone… and she wasn't about to let Inuyasha out of her grasp any time soon. The girl sobbed against the blood stained material of his shirt. "Please, come back… please… I'm begging… I'll do anything… you can't die now… not after what I said…"

Inuyasha's head lolled back with a grimace, completely unseen by Kagome, but it didn't escape the attention of Miroku and the police. Miroku's face was wiped of his misery in favour of shock as she stared in bewilderment at his superstar.

Inuyasha opened his eyes and peered up at Miroku. "Call… an ambulance…" he managed with a little difficulty… more likely due to Kagome's agitated rocking and shaking than the bullet in his head.

A grin of relief spread across Miroku's face as he nodded and quickly made for the front door.

Kagome, having been too busy crying and begging to have heard Inuyasha's little request, carried on crying and begging. "Please… come back… you can't die like this… it isn't fair!"

Inuyasha sighed with a shallow exhale of breath and let her get on with it.

It wasn't all that bad being cradled by the girl he loved in a time of need.

AN: And since I'm already half way through writing the last chapter, I can give you the title ^__^ "The Engagement" …Hmmm… that sounds promising…


	33. The Engagement

**Author's Notes: ***sniff* All done! I think over 9,000 words for the last chapter is more than enough to bring this story to an end. It's been fun but there will be no more after this – no sequel, no prequel, etc. 

So once again I would just like to thank every single person who read this story and enjoyed it ^__^ It means a lot to me that my effort of throwing a bunch of words together to make a story was appreciated. 

Now I shall shamelessly plug Shiz's fanlisting as asked ^__^;; "htt p:/ /fan.roc ket-dive.n et/rose/"  (no spaces, no quotations) It's a cute site – but I'm still overwhelmed and floored that anyone would bother for me!

Thank you all again!! Keep an eye out for Bottled Genius' epilogue which is finished and should be up soon!

**Dead Famous**

**Chapter 33**

**The Engagement**

"I still can't believe we were there the whole time, Yuka!" Eri complained loudly to her friend across the WacDonald's diner table. "We were there since the beginning, circled the place at least five times, and met practically everyone from the guy who washes Brad Pitt's underwear to Joi Ito, but did we see one lick of Inuyasha?"

"Maybe he knew you were coming and hid?" Kagome suggested her dryly.

"She's right, you know…" Ayumi said, staring off into space. "We probably would have jumped on him and pinned him down. I don't think he would have liked that."

"I would throw myself at him the minute I saw him…" Yuka conceded with a sigh.

"He'd throw you straight back." Kagome was getting pretty tired of her friend's complaints. Ever since Sunday, they'd done nothing but whine about how they'd never seen Inuyasha. "Or maybe it was because he got shot in the head and had to leave early?" She went back to sucking up her milkshake through her straw.

"What was up with that chick, Jinko Aida then?" Eri pulled a face. "Everyone says that she like, shot him, and then like, cried over him. And then 'for some unknown reason' that water pipe burst upstairs."

Kagome perched her chin on an upturned palm. "She was schizophrenic apparently. And the water was Inuyasha's nephews."

"Really? Schizophrenic?" Yuka and Eri peered at Kagome with renewed interest.

"Really? Nephews?!" Ayumi clapped her hands together in delight. "I do love men with responsibility."

"How'd you know about Aida then?" Yuka pursued the more relevant topic of conversation.

"Kikyo told me. Apparently, she doesn't come from a very happy background. Her family pretty much abused the living daylights out of her, so she ran away with Fushira when she was fifteen – he was a friend of the family. Kikyo said she was already pretty unhinged at that point and was creating other personalities so she wouldn't have to deal with her emotional problems or her conscience… which probably explains why she managed to be an accomplice to Fushira's antics. I mean, when I met her, I was surprised at how nice she was… I didn't think she had torture in her."

"Whoa…"

"Obviously it was in there somewhere… alter ego Jinko number one must have surfaced when Fushira was killed and then came to get revenge, then halfway through doing that, nice Jinko reappeared and got upset. It turns out that she has no idea what she did. No memory of it at all. They wanted to question her about things that Fushira did in the past, to her and other people, but she doesn't remember any of that stuff either."

"Weird." Yuka wrinkled her nose. "How the heck are the police supposed to sentence her if one half is innocent and the other guilty?"

Kagome shrugged. "I think she's undergoing therapy with a side dish of lots of happy pills." The last of her milkshake disappeared up her straw with a gurgle and she looked down in dismay. "Oh… no…" It was the end of the world!

"I'll get you a refill." Ayumi offered cheerfully, hoping out of her seat.

"Thank you!" Kagome called after her sweetly.

"I think she's traumatised."

Kagome blinked around at her two remaining friends who had their heads together. "What?" she deadpanned.

"You. Traumatised." Yuka blinked back at her. "God, Kagome, you've already been held at gunpoint, like, three times already. You've been held up on a road side, kidnapped, then held hostage by a schizophrenic with a bad dye job. I'd be a gibbering wreck in a nuthouse by now."

"Maybe I am?" Kagome smiled secretively. "Maybe this is all a delusion and you're just figments of my imagination."

Eri looked put out. "I'm not anyone's 'figment' of their imagination. I'm Eri. Me alone. If anyone's a figment, it's you guys."

Kagome gave her a raised eyebrow. "That's exactly the kind of thing a figment of my imagination would say." she pointed out. Eri looked like she was about to argue her defence again, but at that point, Ayumi returned with two new milkshakes and a magazine under one arm."

"Did you pop out to the newsagents or something?" Yuka asked as the girl laid down the magazine and drinks.

"No, someone left it on a table. But I haven't read this week's 'Sure!' magazine, so I swiped it."

Ayumi promptly sat down between Yuka and Eri, and together they all opened up the magazine, regarding it like some sort of holy testament. They 'ooh'ed, 'ahh'ed, and giggled at some of the articles with the occasional burst of "Oh my god! I don't believe she had the nerve to wear that in public!"

Kagome tuned out of their highly intellectual discussion as she began slurping down her new milkshake. Ayumi had gotten the wrong flavour, but it was the thought that counted. Her thoughts strayed back to the previous Sunday…

She'd been convinced he was dead. She was certain that it would be the second time in two consecutive weeks that she watched someone die by a gunshot wound… but it was much worse to watch someone she knew fade away like that and just change from being the friend she was conversing with a few moments before to an empty lifeless husk.

It went to show just how fragile human life was…just how easily it could be taken away in a heartbeat.

But Inuyasha wasn't quite human.

It hadn't been until the police had carefully pried her away from Inuyasha that she realised he was actually very much alive. In fact he was conscious and talking… weak and prone to fainting every few seconds, but for someone with a bullet in the brain, it was a miracle.

He'd also been well enough to take advantage of the situation… much to Kagome's ire at the time. All that worrying for nothing? He got a clip around the ear for that.

He'd been taken away in an ambulance before Kagome could manage to express her relief that he was still alive. Inuyasha had just been whisked away and that was the last time she had seen him…

There had been the odd call from Kikyo or Sango, keeping her up to date with Inuyasha's condition. He was in a bad way, and it wasn't something he would recover overnight from… but he was getting better and that in a way comforted Kagome.

Though she'd feel a lot better if she had been allowed to see him…

But she'd been getting the impression that it was over. Her relationship with Inuyasha was at an end, and while she would always consider him a friend (and she hoped he felt the same way), she had the feeling that there would be very little communication between the two of them. They were practically in two different worlds. He was a busy person and had a lot of people scrambling for his attention. She'd been told that the two weeks she'd spent with him had been his two weeks off from his usual kind of work. Normally he could be expected to be constantly travelling, meeting new people, fighting new people, touring, doing advertising campaigns, bringing out brands… supposedly he was quite a busy person, which was odd for the most notoriously unemployed man in the country.

School had started again. Kagome was diving into her work, preparing for her upcoming exams… and back to catching a quick lunch in WacDonald's every school day at noon. The old familiarity was coming back to her… but after her strange two weeks, she felt odd trying to settle back into the groove she'd spent years in.

"Oh hey!" Yuka suddenly cried out, making Kagome's elbow slip on the table… jamming the straw of her milkshake up one nostril in the process. 

She quickly righted herself. "What is it?

"This," Yuka shuffled around to Kagome's side of the table, sliding the magazine with her. She pointed to an article that spread across two pages. Most of it was composed of big photographs of Inuyasha, Kagome… and strangely enough, Joi Ito?

"What's this about…?" she frowned as she read the headline. "Higurashi loses out in love triangle of the century? What on earth…?"

"Read it!" Eri urged impatiently.

_Tensions ran high in the seaside villa last Sunday, long before Jinko Aida entered the scene. Sources reveal that animosity between the fifteen-minute-fame Kagome Higurashi and the internationally acclaimed Joi Ito were poised to start a catfight only a few minutes before Inuyasha was gunned down in the entrance hall._

****

Inserted was a picture of the exact moment when Kagome had followed Inuyasha back into the classic room after having been rained on and dropped with the 'I'm interested in you' bomb. The moment where she had tugged on Inuyasha's sleeve to get his attention… but for all appearances it looked like she was trying to drag him away from Joi Ito. The scowl on her face was not exactly welcoming towards either Inuyasha or Ito…

The caption didn't help particularly. "_Wet angry pussies, meow_!"

"What the heck is this?!" Kagome cried.

"Shh!" Ayumi hushed her. "Keep reading!"

Kagome did just that.

_Eye witness accounts told of how Joi Ito harrowingly challenged Jinko Aida after the shooting. The famous singer/songwriter stayed by the superstar's side throughout the entire ordeal and accompanied him to the hospital via the ambulance where she watched over him for twelve hours straight. It was touch and go for a long time and Joi Ito was reported to have been supplementing on extra caffeine in order to be around for Inuyasha's awakening._

_Her endearing loyalty has evidently won a place in Inuyasha's heart as their engagement was announced late yesterday afternoon. Sources tell that communication with Kagome Higurashi has been severed and the alleged 'kiss' they shared on live television two weeks earlier was indeed no more than a friendly kiss. Tell that to poor Higurashi! The teenage fangirl is still supposedly trying to get in contact with Inuyasha, but as plans have already been made to unite Inuyasha and Ito's world tour next week, she'll be having a tough time._

_Here's to the happy couple!_

****

And there as bold as day was a picture of Inuyasha and Joi Ito holding hands outside the Blossom café. Looking for all the world… as if they were in love.

"What…?" Kagome breathed, staring in disbelief. "But – none of this is true! There was no love triangle – he told me himself that he didn't have a crush on Joi Ito! The one who stayed by his side was me! I was the one who pushed Jinko Aida off him! Joi Ito was trapped in the classic room with everyone else! She never even saw him _leave _in the ambulance?! Where is all this coming from?!"

"You mean… this didn't happen?" Yuka frowned, probably torn about who to believe; her best friend or her magazine.

"None of it did!" Kagome cried, shock changing to outrage. "How can they make all that up?! I bet he's not even engaged to her!"

"Nope. They're engaged." Eri cut in with a shrug.

Kagome blinked at her. "What?"

"It's been all over the news, Kagome. Eight million fangirls are poised to tear poor Joi Ito to shreds because their engagement was announced yesterday." Ayumi told her. "My little sister cried herself to sleep last night when she heard the news…"

"I cried as well." Yuka sighed.

"Me too." Eri nodded.

"Me three." Ayumi shrugged. "But I'm over it now, and I'm just hoping that any sons they have will like older women. But… we thought you knew about this…"

"No…" Kagome frowned at the images in the magazine. She wasn't exactly being portrayed as a saint in that article… which was strange because she noticed that on page seven there was an exclusive fashion article that had picked her out as a prime example of fashion sense (Kagome obviously wasn't the only person who had liked the pink dress… too bad it was ruined from all the blood it had picked up).

But what bothered her was all this talk of _engagement_. But hadn't Inuyasha told her only last Sunday that he had been interested in her… that he had a crush on Kagome, not Joi?

Although, hadn't he also said that he had no control over how long those feelings would last? Maybe they'd only lasted a night… maybe that bullet had addled his brains and he'd forgotten his feelings in favour of falling in love with the first woman he saw… who happened to be a famous singer/songwriter. 

Kagome sat back with a crestfallen expression, unaware of how closely her friends were regarding her. "Kagome…"

"Yeah…?"

Yuka's eyebrows drew together in a concerned frown. "You don't have feelings for Inuyasha… do you?"

Kagome stared at her milkshake, dabbling her fingers against the cold condensation of the glass. 

How was she supposed to answer that?

**~*~**

"Kids… what do you say…?"

The three triplets shuffled their feet and looked at the ground. "We're sorry…" they mumbled, more or less in chorus. "…for flushing the cherry bomb down the toilet and for breaking your water pipes and making a hole in your ceiling and flooding the ground floor. We're sorry."

Rehearsed and performed to perfection. Inuyasha blinked at his three nephews slowly. Granted, it was going to cost a lot of money to repair the broken pipes and the ceiling, not to mention damages made on the ground floor from the flooding that needed to be reimbursed, as well as all the traumatised guests – some of whom were demanding compensations.

Not to mention the water at the villa had been turned off, resulting in an unlucky someone (namely Miroku) having to trek six or so miles to the nearest supermarket to stock up on enough water to support all the inhabitants of the villa. And of course, Miroku being Miroku, was charging competitive prices for the precious water. Those who wanted baths had to pay extra.

Not that Inuyasha cared… he was in the hospital with all the water he could ever desire at his beck and call. He could splash around in his en suite bathroom for hours, playing with his rubber duck and novelty frog, and only have to worry about the occasional peeping nurse…

But the triplets _had _done some serious damage. Although, they had probably inadvertently saved his life as well as several other peoples'… and he'd probably given them permission to cause trouble in the first place, so who was the pot to call the kettle black?

"Forgive and forget." Inuyasha waved off the apology flippantly and looked up at his older brother standing at the end of the hospital bed. "Are you really taking these three bundles of joy away so soon? And here I was just starting to get attached."

Sesshomaru fixed him with an unimpressed glare. "I've been doing some calculations. It would appear that I haven't touched my wife in seven months… and since she's allegedly only five months pregnant I can only, sadly, assume that my dear wife has been having an extra marital affair."

"Oh…" Inuyasha's gaze slid past Sesshomaru to where Rin was straightening her hair while peering into her reflection on a darkened window. "Poor you?"

"Indeed." Sesshomaru flicked an eyebrow up. "Glad to see you alive, Inuyasha. I wouldn't want to inflict mine or the children's presence on your feeble condition anymore. Besides, I have a house I need to take back, along with my favourite child."

At this, the triplets rolled their eyes and huffed. Inuyasha could just about tell them apart now that Jiro was missing several chunks of hair. "Sis is so offensively cute it's just unfair…" Hiko grumbled.

"Unreal…" Jiro added, picking his nose.

"I hate her." Mo folded his arms crossly.

Trouble was a brewing. Even Inuyasha, in his slightly dazed and still recovering condition was quick enough to see that. "Well, I don't want to keep you guys." He made shooing gestures with his hands towards the door. "Bye, bye! Don't be strangers!"

"Rin," Sesshomaru called.

"Coming!" she piped and toddled after them. "Where are we going?"

The triplets latched onto her arms lovingly. "Home, Rin." They chirped in response.

"Oh good! Because I forgot to feed my cat before we left, so…"

"Take care! My door is always open to you guys!" Inuyasha waved them off cheerfully until the door had slammed shut. "Oh dear god – what a bunch of nutters!"

"Inuyasha…" Kikyo reprimanded him in a sharp voice as she exited the en suite bathroom with refreshed mascara and lipstick. "You do realise they all having hearing on par with yours?"

"Yes."

"Do you care?"

"Not really, no."

Kikyo gave a dismissive shrug and seated herself in the overstuffed chair beside his bed. "The builders have given me an estimate for the burst water pipes and the damage to the ceiling. We can afford it easily, but the maids are still trying to remove the flood stains from the ground floor."

"Oh well…" Inuyasha stifled a yawn with the back of his hand and flopped back onto his pillows.

"Please don't move so vigorously. The doctor says you still have head trauma." Kikyo said wearily.

"Probably from when Kagome booted me as she realised I was alive…" Inuyasha looked up at the ceiling with hooded eyes.

"Well, your face _was _pressed up nice and close to her chest." Kikyo gave him a dull look. "Which reminds me…"

Inuyasha glanced across at his agent as she reached down to rummage through her handbag. Out came a transparent plastic bag containing a small piece of silver. It wasn't until Kikyo had shook the contents into her hand that Inuyasha realised what he was looking at. "That's Kagome's ring."

"Kagome's? I thought it was your mother's." Kikyo raised an eyebrow but handed the ring to him. "The police found it near where your body was lying… looks like she dropped it. But it seems to be missing something…"

Inuyasha sighed. "The diamond must have broken off…"

"Diamond?" Kikyo scoffed. "That was a sapphire."

Inuyasha flicked a glance up at her. "Oh. Oops." He cleared his throat. "No big loss then?"

"So it seems." The agent smiled slightly. "Anyway, I've discussed a few things with Joi Ito's agent and decided it would be best if the two of you combined your tours and set off for Africa in three weeks. You should have recovered nicely by then."

"Oh, how simply marvellous!" Inuyasha gave a mocking camp act, clasping his hands together. "And when Kouga comes around to beat me up for getting engaged to his girlfriend, I'll get to stay in this bed for another week!"

"Please," Kikyo rolled her eyes. "Kouga knows that it's just a publicity campaign and that he'll be free to marry the girl when you two break up halfway through the tour."

"Joy." Inuyasha grumbled, sinking further into his pillows. "To be frank, I don't feel like travelling anywhere with anyone, let alone to Africa with Joi Ito."

"Tough."

"I've been shot in the frickin' head!" Inuyasha jabbed a finger at the bandage winding around his forehead to his nape. "Give me a break!"

"You're a hanyou. I repeat: tough." Kikyo smoothed a lock of hair between her fingers. She was the epitome of casual callousness – something Inuyasha usually considered himself to have down to an art. "You will be well enough in three weeks to get on a plane. Joi Ito isn't exactly bad company either."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. He'd much rather take someone else to Africa… but he had to wonder if he'd ever get the chance to see that someone again…

"If you're lucky, maybe you'll even woo her and make this engagement a reality." Kikyo tipped her head suggestively. "Sure Kouga would want to string you up by your testicles, but think the publicity the actual _marriage _would bring around."

Inuyasha winced slightly as he crossed his legs under the covers. "I'm not marrying anyone. Not until I'm fifty, and then it will be to a twenty year old glamour model."

"Oh, good idea." Kikyo blinked at him. "I hadn't considered the long term benefits of bachelorhood… you realise that your future wife hasn't been born yet, then?"

Inuyasha sniffed. "I'm tired, Kikyo. Leave me to rest now, dear."

She bristled at the added cheeky endearment but got up nonetheless. "Just remember to relax and take it easy. No picking fights with the male nurses or doctors and no getting up unless you need the bathroom. Even then it has to be an emergency."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Inuyasha waved her off as he closed his eyes. "I'm just so…" he broke off with a yawn, "… tired right now. I probably won't wake up until morning."

A suspicious way of wording a comment like that… almost as if he wanted her to believe he wouldn't move from that bed till daybreak. But Kikyo knew the security of the hospital was top notch, and female nurses would be popping in every few seconds to check on him (just because it was THE Inuyasha).

Collecting her bag and coat, Kikyo made her way to the door. She stopped as she reached for the handle and turned back, about to say something but stopped when she realised Inuyasha was already asleep. She closed her mouth and raised an eyebrow. With a sigh she started to move out again. "Glad you're ok…"

The door shut with a quiet click, and a few seconds later Inuyasha cranked an eye open. He was almost touched by Kikyo's quiet concession, but what a sucker that woman could be!

With a cheerful whistle, he threw back the covers and hopped onto his feet. In the lower compartment of the set of drawers beside the bed were a set of fresh clothes and his wallet – little gifts from Miroku. 

A hair toggle was found in the drawer above the first, along with a cap and a dark pair of shades. It only hurt a little when he wedged the cap down over his ears, the edge lying directly over the slightly tender bullet wound. But it wasn't anything dire and nothing more than a mere nuisance.

Inuyasha threw open the window with a refreshed sigh. It was time to hit the tiles!

But one look down at the magnificent drop of all twelve stories and he changed his mind about taking that exit and slowly shut the window. 

He wanted to hit the tiles, but not literally… 

**~*~**

_I don't believe that idiot…_ Kagome sulked as she made her way home from cram school. _He doesn't give it a rest… gets shot in the head on Sunday and by Thursday he's back on the pull!_

The headlights of the passing cars dazzled her eyes so that she had to keep squinting at the pavement in order to see where she was going. It didn't help that she was exhausted and completely drained from studying. Not only that, but she felt she hadn't had a decent night's sleep since last Friday – almost a week ago.

Her paranoid concern for Inuyasha had been keeping her company at night, preventing her from sleeping for more than two hours at a time. Every day she had arrived home from school, she'd asked her mother if there had been any calls. But as of yet there had been no more than the occasional word from Sango and Kikyo. Inuyasha hadn't called her himself…

She wondered if that was down to being too ill, or too lazy.

Echoes of that horrible cramping fear that she'd experience when Inuyasha had been lying in her arms returned to her almost constantly. She couldn't forget the simply helpless feeling that she'd felt as she'd knelt in that blood stained water and sobbed her heart out. Her heart still ached to remember that moment…

At the time, she'd been so angry with herself for the inability to reach out and catch a hold of his life to keep it firmly grounded in his body. But it was like sand escaping through her fingers. There was nothing Kagome could do that would bring someone back to life…

Unless she knew CPR. But she doubted even medical skills would have helped in that situation.

Then it had turned out that all that heartbreak had been for nothing. He could have just reached up and tapped her shoulder and said "Look, I'm fine!", but no. He'd had to fake a few extra moments of death just to squeeze a few more tears out of her eyes.

Didn't he realise that, for just those few moments when she'd truly believed he was dead, her heart had  shattered into a million fragments?

Probably not.

"Pig." she muttered with feeling as she obliviously passed a rather offended gentlemen at a bus stop. 

But most depressingly of all, was that she obviously cared about Inuyasha and had for a long time. She knew that she had always been unconsciously compassionate towards his personal plight, and that she'd also had some kind of feelings towards him… but she'd never really thought about it, or taken the time to figure out what she felt towards him other than her instinctive dislike.

She felt something…

She was scared that it was love…

After all, Kagome had died a small death when she'd really thought Inuyasha was gone… she doubted anything less than love could have made her feel that much pain.

It terrified her…

But not as much as the fact that she was certain she was being followed.

Footsteps echoed behind her along the pavement. She didn't bother turning around but she slowed slightly, hoping that whoever it was would just pass her by and prove to be no more than someone hurrying home from work. She knew better than to speed up and then go hide in an alley where she could be easily cornered.

She also knew better than to walk home in the dark, but obviously the lack of sleep had been affecting her senses. Here she was walking home in the dark with footsteps that were slowing down to match hers. Maybe she was just being paranoid? But just in case she wasn't, she decided to crouch down and pretend to readjust her socks. Whoever it was would then be forced to pass her by or else risk trying anything in plain view of the road and all the drivers.

To her surprise, the footsteps stopped behind her. "No, no, no. You're supposed to start running away and then I corner you in an alley and have my way with you."

Unbeknownst to the man, Kagome also happened to have a rather heavy backpack filled with cram school homework – roughly equivalent in weight to five bricks. The school girl stood slowly and slid the bag strap off her shoulder. She clasped its weight in front of her for a moment before pivoting on her heel and swinging it full force at her harasser. 

Inuyasha never stood a chance.

Kagome watched in bewilderment as Inuyasha was thrown against the chain-link fence lining the pavement with a soft "oof!". Obviously he hadn't expected that, and he must have seriously been having some trouble with his inner ear if even Kagome had been able to catch him off-balance.

He slid to the ground looking dazed. "Ow… now that hurt."

"YOU!" Kagome gaped at him, staring in disbelief.

"Well now I know not to pull _that _joke on you in the future." Inuyasha shimmied back to his feet with quite a bit of support from the fence. He didn't even let go of it when he was finally upright. "You know, most girls jump at an offer like that."

Kagome's indignation was given a rough poke. "How dare you sneak up on me like some kind of creepy stalker?!"

"Oh, don't get your panties in a twist. I'm a billionaire. I have better things to do with my time than stalk school girls."

"Yet here you are stalking me." Kagome slung her bag back over her shoulder and folded her arms gruffly. "What do you want?"

Inuyasha blinked at her. "Is that it?"

Kagome blinked back.

"I got shot in the head, spent four days in intensive care, and when I finally get the chance to see you again you ask me what the hell I want?" He sounded honestly offended. 

"I did not say 'hell'." Kagome argued for pity's sake, already conflicted on how she felt about the current topic. "And for your information – I _am _glad to see you."

"Oh good." Inuyasha muttered sarcastically and gave her a dirty look. "Now that all the formalities are done, I'll be going, shall I?"

He made to start walking away, but Kagome quickly caught his sleeve and dragged him back. "I'm sorry… it's just been a tough few days… and I'm very tired… and hungry… and I think I'm getting arthritis because all my joints hurt…"

"That's your excuse for everything." He turned back towards her.

"Well, yours is always "I got shot in the head!"." she feigned a goofy voice in a mocking parody of his own.

Inuyasha bristled. Kagome bristled right back. For a long time, they simply glared at each other, squared their shoulders, and clenched their fists as if about to embark upon a serious fight – verbally at least.

Finally, Inuyasha snapped. "Whatever's biting you, I wish you'd just spit it out!"

Kagome snapped in response. "How could you get engaged like that?!" she spat, but the moment she'd finished she clapped a hand over her mouth in horror. Well… too late to go back on her words now…

Inuyasha, however, was delighted. "Oh, you mean me and Joi Ito?" he queried in a coy tone as he tugged his shades down to regard her. "So in the end, you're just jealous."

"No."

"Yes, you are."

"I don't think so."

"I _do _think so."

"You're just putting words in my mouth." she responded heatedly, scared to death now. "I'm just curious… after that wonderful speech you gave me about not being interested in her, you turn around and get engaged to her."

"Actually, we were planning to get engaged long before I ever uttered the word 'you'." Inuyasha said haughtily.

"You two-timer!" she declared loudly.

"Maybe if I fancied her – which I don't!" Inuyasha shouted just as loudly back at her. "The only girl in the fucking world that I give a fucking damn about is you! Anything else is just publicity!" He slapped her head gently. "Idiot!"

Kagome watched him stalk away to find a seat on a nearby bench. She paused a moment to look around to see if anyone had noticed that Inuyasha was sitting on a bench in the middle of their mundane little street, but apart from the people in the cars, there were no people to be seen. The drivers were far too busy watching the road than watching the pavement for the odd celebrity.

Of course Inuyasha wasn't helping matters either with his shades, hat and hair toggle. Celebrities were odd people… they spent so much of their lives striving to be famous and recognisable, and when they finally achieve those goals, they don a hat and glasses to hide who they are.

Kagome looked back at Inuyasha and stopped dead.

"Another cigarette?" she commented pointedly as she drew near.

"Oh, this isn't for me." He beckoned her over with one hand while he rested his other arm on the back of the bench, the lit cigarette held as far away as possible. "This is for you."

Kagome gave him a flat look. "I'm not smoking that. I don't submit to petty peer pressure. I don't take sweets from strangers, and if you force me to do anything I don't want to, I swear I'll scream so loud that the police on the other side of the district in their doughnut shop will hear and come running and then you'll be in deep-"

"What, have you been practising mommy's speech since you were three?" he scoffed sarcastically. "Get over here already."

Kagome shuffled closer, but refused to sit down. Inuyasha rolled his eyes and finally grabbed her by the front of her school blouse to drag her down next to him. The result was that she ended half sprawled across his lap… an error that she quickly corrected in a mad scuffle to sit upright with a good ten inches between them. "Bully."

"Wuss." He offered the cigarette. "One go. I promise I'll leave you alone after that."

"Bite me!"

"How can you be so quick to judge me for smoking when you don't even know what one tastes like?" he said evenly, scowling at her.

Kagome looked back at him, perplexed by his reasoning. Maybe he just thought it would be hot for a girl to smoke and that was why he was doing this? But she saw the challenge in his eyes and knew that he would only mock her if she backed down…

So what if it was peer pressure? She damn well wouldn't let Inuyasha get the better of her!

With an irritated sigh, she snatched the burning, little white stick off him and fumbled awkwardly with its shape. For a moment the suffocating smoke threatened to make her succumb to a coughing fit, but miraculously her cool held and she regarded the little cigarette with disgust as she held it aloft. "You better have a damn good reason for this…" she told him grumpily.

Inuyasha was watching her expectantly. "Well?"

"Give me a minute." She bit her lip anxiously.

"Oh come on – it won't kill you!" he taunted.

"It will if my mother happens to come by on the bus." Kagome cast an eye around suspiciously for any passing buses.

"Just do it."

"Alright… alright…"

She exhaled slowly, psyching herself up to the challenge. Inuyasha was still watching her… and by the look on his face, he was expecting her to chicken out at the last moment. Just as she was about to do just that, she surprised both herself and Inuyasha as she quickly took a drag of the cigarette.

For a moment, it was ok. It didn't feel bad or particularly good… but then she'd forgotten to breathe out and the smoke in her lungs caught her in a stranglehold. Without a rat's ass of consideration to the environment, Kagome quickly flung the cigarette away and bent double as she coughed up what felt like most of her vital organs.

Great, now she felt sick.

Inuyasha chuckled as he patted her back. "You shouldn't suck so hard for a first timer – and no double meanings there." He grinned. "How does it feel?"

"Like I'm dying…" Kagome croaked pathetically, still unable to get the horrid taste of tobacco out of her mouth. Her lungs were burning.  "Urgh…"

Inuyasha pulled her upright, but she only collapsed against his shoulder, still coughing. "Tastes bad, huh?"

"Worse than bad…" Kagome's brow wrinkled with a frown. "How can you willingly do that? I mean, you must have really forced yourself to start up _that _kind of habit."

"Then you understand how bad the addiction is if I'm having trouble stopping something as bad as that?"

Kagome managed to quell her coughing fit long enough to peer up at him, confused, but slightly more understanding. "I guess…" she whispered hoarsely. "But aren't you used to it now?"

"No." He shook his head. "Humans get accustomed to it; their taste buds fade, and so does their sense of smell and it becomes enjoyable. But for a hanyou, every cigarette is like the first… but I have a lifetime's addiction so I can't stop."

"Is this where I start sympathising and let you get on with damaging your body?" Kagome asked evenly.

"Nah…" He shrugged with one shoulder. "I'm just hoping you'll understand that I'm a slave to my needs. You may have said that you'd fish my head out of toilets for the rest of my life, but I don't think you would… I don't think you _should_. Maybe it's best if you just stayed away from me."

So he had been conscious for most of her begging last Sunday night… Kagome felt a tinge of embarrassment spread across her cheeks but did her best to ignore it. "I would do it." she said quietly. "Maybe you just need help, that's all. You know… two heads are better than one."

He smirked. "I don't know… you seem to be bad luck. For the last two weeks we've been together I've been targeted by bombs, arrested by the police, framed for attempted murder, held up at gunpoint by a hijacker, kidnapped, slapped several times, lost all my current girlfriends, got engaged to a girl I don't really know or give a toss about, not to mention I also overdosed, discovered my father was a prick and nearly got castrated by Kikyo when she found out that I got you drunk."

"Wow… I've only been held at gunpoint a couple of times." She rested her chin on his shoulder. "But I could stand a couple more times… if you wanted."

His hand passed over her head, ruffling her hair. "You're a sweet girl." He smiled as he rested his head against the top of hers.

A prickle of tears made Kagome's eyes begin to well up. She was pretty sure now that it had to be love… though she really wished it wasn't. Her life had never been so messy or complicated till he'd stepped into it, yet that still hadn't stopped her heart from reaching out to him. She didn't want him to ever remove his arm from around her shoulder, or to stop leaning on her in any sense. But she knew that his life was a strange one… the attention from the media, the lack of privacy in anything he did, and the fake smiles and personalities that surrounded him day and night was a world that Kagome didn't want a part of. She couldn't take one without the other… she couldn't have Inuyasha and leave out all the faults of his lifestyle.

Kagome couldn't handle what he needed her to handle… and Inuyasha couldn't be the man she needed him to be.

Silent tears ran down her face, but Inuyasha still seemed to realise she was crying. He straightened in an instant. "What's wrong?" he asked sharply, probably worried he'd done something to upset her.

"I want to stay with you…" she told him honestly, her voice hitched with tears. "But I can't live the rest of my life like I've lived the last two weeks-"

"That was a one-off, Kagome!" he cut in. "You won't be kidnapped every week-"

"No – I mean with everyone watching me and taking pictures and making up stories that aren't true!" she angrily swiped at her tears. "Everyone's so fake and phoney – I can't stand being around them. I won't have any privacy left if I stayed with you! I can't live like that!"

For a moment, Inuyasha looked angry enough to hit something… but it seemed to dissipate within seconds and he looked drained. "I'm not asking you to. We don't have to see each other again if you don't want-"

"No!" Kagome cried, grabbing his arm.

He blinked at her, shocked at her outburst.

"I want to see you again!" she sniffed, finding it hard to make him out through the tears. "I want to see you all the time – but I can't!"

"What?" Inuyasha frowned, still not quite following her.

"I care about you… I _really _do." She let go of his arm and pressed her hands over her face. "I'm scared about leaving you because I know you'll probably do something stupid when I'm not there to keep you in line. But I'm terrified of staying with you and having my life picked apart by millions of people… or getting involved with drugs and gangs and all that kind of stuff…"

"It isn't always like that." he said quickly, seeing hope. "These past two weeks have been weird, even for me. It really isn't as hectic being famous as you might think."

"I don't want to be famous." Kagome said weakly.

"Then just be Kagome and stay with me." He caught her hand and dragged it to his cheek. Her fingers were icy cold and they contrasted starkly with the warmth of his hands and face. Kagome looked up at him slowly, startled by the urgency she saw there. "Please?" 

Not a word that graced his vocabulary often.

She was lost for words…

Maybe he did it to try and tempt her, or to seal the deal, but that was when he kissed her. Kagome was almost shocked enough to pull away… but not quite. The kiss was sweet and lingering – not at all short and cruel like the first one he'd given her. The tips of his fingers grazed her cheek, settling against the curve of her jaw in the manner of a professional kisser. Kagome was painfully aware of the experience and skill he exhibited… but that didn't mean she was left cold. On the contrary, she felt her knees go weak – hazardous if she'd been standing – while her heart began to resemble the sound of a galloping horse in her chest. She felt dizzy and helpless…

She felt cherished.

Inuyasha simply felt at home… and right then he was willing to try anything to convince Kagome to remain with him.

But she pulled away suddenly and lowered her gaze to the pavement, a blush staining her cheeks.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

Kagome didn't answer for a moment, but then rapidly stomped her feet on the ground and screwed her eyes shut like a fangirl in a fit of excitement. "I just kissed Inuyasha!"

"I'm still here, you know." he reminded her.

"I know, I know… it's just that I've known about you for a heck of a lot longer than you've known about me." she told him, glancing up with a hint of apology in her eyes. "I grew up hearing your name and seeing your face everywhere I went… it's weird that I've finally met you… and kissed you…"

"And made me fall in love with you."

Kagome blinked up at him in surprise. He blinked back like the perfect vision of innocence. "What did you say?" she whispered.

"What?" he said guardedly. "Am I not allowed to say that or something?"

"No, it's just… when did that happen?"

"When you told Jinko Aida not to touch me, I suppose." He grinned. "You're cute when you're threatening people!"

"But…" But now what? Was she supposed to say she felt exactly the same way? She loved a superstar and he loved her, but she didn't want to be the wife or girlfriend of a superstar that every fangirl conspired to hate and maim… someone who got targeted by the press for simply loving someone else.

Inuyasha was rich, successful, and good-looking… how long would it be before someone far prettier came along and caught his eye?

She voiced her fears quietly. "How do I know that you mean that…?"

"You think I'm lying?" he scowled.

"No, I just think that you may mean well, but I'm probably not the smartest, or the prettiest girl in the world. How do I know that your attention won't stray?" She scraped her shoes nervously against the cement paving slab beneath her feet.

"Oh, Kagome…" He waved off her concern. "Of course you're not the smartest or prettiest girl I have ever met." Kagome's glare could have frozen the innards of a volcano. Inuyasha somehow failed to notice her frosty gaze. "But you're the only one I care about. Believe it or not, I don't go around declaring love to every girl I meet."

"Yes, you do." she corrected sharply. "I heard you talking to your girlfriend last week – two of them in fact."

"Yes, but I mean it this time." he responded in an equally sharp tone. "You're supposed to know my lying voice – am I lying now?"

"You're also engaged to a famous singer." Kagome pointed out. "I don't think there's enough room in this relationship for me, you, Joi Ito, and your inflated ego."

"No need to get personal," he said snippily, folding his arms and leaning back. "You know, most girls would jump at the chance I'm offering you."

"And what chance is that?" she asked, wanting clarification.

"To let me take care of you…" he shrugged.

Kagome sighed. "I don't want to be your pet…"

"Then I'm giving you the chance to look after me. To keep throwing all my cigarettes down the toilet and stop me from going to all those parties. To hit me every time I leer at another woman – because I would stop doing all those things for you, you know." He winced slightly. "You're the only one I can talk to like this… I told you once that I have trouble knowing who I am – but when I'm with you I feel natural and calm, like you're the other half of me that I've been missing my entire life."

Kagome swallowed hard. "Did you read that in some cheesy romance novel?"

"No," he smirked. "I've been doing a lot of thinking since I got this hole in my head, and that's just how I feel."

Kagome smiled, touched by his words. "It's sweet."

He smiled easily. "I need your company, Kagome… if you refuse then I'll just have to give up all my money and property and come live with you in your little dinky house."

"You'd do that?" Kagome stared at him with wide eyes.

"Sure…" he shrugged. "If it was possible, I mean."

Yes, there was the fact that someone with Inuyasha's status in society would find it hard to escape that status, even if he gave up everything and tried to live a normal life. Plus, there was also the fact that he would have no idea how to live a normal life – not that it would be normal with the press camping on his doorstep in the suburbs of wherever he chose to live.

It was just impossible to become un-famous so easily.

How long had they been talking now? Kagome glanced at her watch and mentally groaned. Half an hour… she'd be lucky if her mother hadn't already called the police and reported her missing. It wouldn't have surprised her, not with the luck Kagome was having keeping out of trouble lately.

"We have a job opening in the entourage." Inuyasha said nonchalantly as he inspected his nails. "The girl who normally chooses my clothes has been fired for leaking information to Fushira and his cronies. The requirements are that you have to be over fourteen with a decent sense of style."

Kagome couldn't help the smile that was slowly spreading across her face.

Inuyasha looked down at her, seemingly in an all-business mode. "Since Sure! Magazine has already picked you up twice for your amazing sense of style, I figured you might be interested."

"I might. What do I have to do?" she asked, playing along.

"Well, Miss Higurashi, all you have to do is be on hand at all times – preferably living within the villa itself, in order to pick out my clothes each morning with the day's events in mind. You may have to accompany me on tour, but if that doesn't work with your educational schedule I can always hire a temporary stylist. Other than that, you are free to come and go once you've picked out what I am to wear." He finally allowed himself a small grin. "And if your job requires anything more of you, be prepared to accept bigger responsibilities…"

"Only if I can bring my family." She was grinning madly now.

"We have more than enough rooms to accommodate three more people."

"And my friends?"

"Not those three people."

"And what about my house and the Shrine?" she asked quickly.

He stroked his chin. "I suppose I can discuss the prospects of taking over a Shrine with Kikyo. We can invest a little in restoring the buildings and employing more people to take care of it with the former caretakers now living elsewhere…"

"They'd have to handle Grandpa, too," Kagome cautioned. "I don't think he'd give up on the Shrine so easily."

"Fair enough." Inuyasha shrugged. "Are all those terms acceptable?"

Kagome cocked her head. "I think so," she said cheerfully.

"You may have to sign a few things… like no suing if you ever get kidnapped again whilst under my protection."

"Fair enough."

"And you had better make it clear to your family that they are employees, not starlets."

"Also fair." Well, maybe Souta would need a little convincing.

Inuyasha smiled gently and touched her cheek. "Then run it by your family. If they agree to move, you can start after I get back from the tour."

A tour? "When will that be?"

"I'm going in three weeks… I won't be back till late July." That smile faded a little.

Kagome's heart ached slightly. That was an awful long time… "I can handle two months without you. You're not my entire world, you know." _Yet_. "And I'll be reading every magazine I can get my hands on to make sure you're not doing anything you shouldn't." she informed him.

"As long as I find you in the villa when I get back." he countered.

Kagome beamed at him. One way or another they were going to make it work. Maybe her mother would need a little talking around, but she was sure that with the promise of losing all their money problems her mother wouldn't be too resistant to the idea. Souta would dive at the chance to live in the same building as Inuyasha, and Grandpa… as long as Grandpa was allowed to visit the Shrine at least once a week, he'd be happy wherever they took him.

It was a big compromise, but Kagome could see no other way of being beside Inuyasha without the nuisance of the press weighing down on her. A small part of her knew that she was giving up a lot for just one boy… but the larger part sang that she was in love and she would trek to hell and back if it meant that she could be with him.

She also had two months to change her mind… so Kagome felt far from cornered or pressured. Which was probably why she was even considering this…

Looking down at her watch, she cringed again. "My mother is probably putting up missing posters of me by now." she said, sliding away from him on the bench before getting to her feet. "I better go."

Inuyasha followed. "You probably won't see me for another two months."

Two months was probably just enough time to recover from the trauma of their last two weeks together. Kagome smiled anyhow and reached up to embrace him warmly. "I'll miss you."

"Ditto." 

When he pulled back, it was only to kiss her again. The sensation of lips against hers was an odd one, and Kagome knew that it would take time to get used to it. But that didn't stop the kiss from igniting fuzzy butterflies in her stomach or make her toes curl any less. 

Eventually they broke apart. "I really have to go." she reminded him.

"Me too… Kikyo will put a matching hole in the other side of my head if she finds I'm gone." He nodded.

It was still another ten minutes before they finally parted ways, but they were hardly idle for that time.

**~*~**

**Epilogue of Sorts**

Two months was a long time, but it proved long enough for Kagome to only just convince her mother that the move was beneficial to them all. Mrs Higurashi obviously had her reservations after all she'd witnessed her daughter go through, but eventually she succumbed to Kagome's insisting. Besides, she couldn't resist the chance to move into an actual seaside villa complete with complimentary silver Porsche and a swimming pool.

Mrs Higurashi took on a part-time job alongside the cook, and insisted that her family eat together every night come rain or shine. 

Inuyasha didn't take over the Higurashi's Shrine – Sesshomaru did that. He also made Kagome's Grandpa head of the department that oversaw care of the Shrine premises. The old man was slightly unhappy about the commercialisation, but he was also being paid obscene amounts of money for the first time since his retirement. Once again, the disgruntlement was brief.

Souta still managed to maintain a normal life, save for the fact he was now the most popular boy in his school and had his own female groupies.

Kagome's friends never did manage to catch sight of Inuyasha…

Neither did Angelique Spagni, no matter how many times she came to call.

As it turned out, Sesshomaru's latest and greatest child turned out to have not a single drop of dog demon blood. As a result, Sesshomaru is greatly enjoying his divorce settlement, despite the fact that he was left with the triplets. Miroku was often or not called in to baby sit while Sesshomaru took the occasional 'top secret business trip' with his secretary. Miroku also often or not tricked Sango into joining him.

The gossip around Inuyasha's love life faded, only fluctuating now and then when ex-girlfriends sold their stories to newspapers or when Joi Ito eventually married Kouga. The world forgot Kagome and her two weeks of mild fame. Her privacy and personal life remained intact and once more, strangers had no idea who she was or how to spell her name. 

Life settled down in general and Kagome became an expert in dodging the tabloids, although Inuyasha never got the chance to be so lucky. He carried on living in the public eye for many years, although his popularity was at one time overridden by a newcomer of a Latino singer. However, one well-spread rumour from Kikyo about a certain singer and a plastic surgery scam had Inuyasha back in top form. 

Inuyasha, for one, eventually managed to wean himself off smoking with a little help from Kagome – this quitting process was the source of many arguments that shook the foundation of the house nearly as much as the triplet's cherry bomb (an event more renowned than the shooting of Inuyasha's head). But despite the ups and downs, Inuyasha hardly ever went anywhere without his 'personal stylist'…

…and for the first time in his over-exposed and controversial life; wherever he went he was never alone.

AN: Right, what's next…?


	34. Epilogue Pink Socks and Nose Jobs

**Author****'****s Notes: **Surprise! Here's a much cooler epilogue!

Well, I wasn't originally going to write this, but after a while I kinda realised that I didn't like the way I ended it before… so I've stretched out that postscript type of ending into something more substantial. I was getting a lot of questions about Inuyasha and Kagome's fates – the main one being 'Why didn't they get married?" I never said they didn't! I normally hate spelling things out since with open endings, you can pretty much judge for yourselves what will happen to them. This time it being, they're in love, they're working side by side – of course they're going to get married eventually! Just not when Kagome's only fifteen! 

But since even _I _desire a little bit of closure, here's a more detailed ending to the story. There will be no more after this. Please don't ask for a sequel. I won't be writing one. Please don't accuse me of being evil for simply ending a story (as has been the case) since all stories must come to an end and I'm not going to spend the rest of my life writing new chapters for Dead Famous. So please just enjoy the ending and if you need to read more, you can always reread the entire story. ^_^

Oh! And I've also changed my penname at last. Seriously, I was getting sick of Rosefire and needed a little change. But since I can't change my penname over in mm.org, that will stay as Rozefire. So no accusing me of plagiarism! I'm still me! 

Ok – enough of that – read the ending already!

**Dead Famous**

**Epilogue**

**Pink Socks and Nose Jobs**

"I have to admit that I'm surprised, Kagome. We've been here nearly two whole months and so far none of us have shot at, kidnapped, maimed, traumatised or pushed off cliffs."

Kagome knocked on Souta's head. "Touch wood."

"Hey…"

Mrs Higurashi smiled as she continued to chop the carrots for lunch. Cook obviously appreciated the work that Kagome's mother did – it freed her up enough time to talk on the kitchen phone to German relatives, which she was doing at that very moment in time. 

"Is Grandpa gonna make it back in time for dinner?" Souta asked, not looking up from the bowl of cake mix that he was scraping clean with his finger.

"Possibly." Mrs Higurashi said over the loud nattering of the German cook with verbal diarrhoea. "He might be a bit busy with the Shrine, but do you know who else is coming back today?"

"Inuyasha!" her children chorused happily.

"About time!" Souta said around his chocolate covered finger. "We've been living in his house long enough."

"Well, this isn't his only house, you know." Kagome pointed out, stealing a little slice of carrot while her mother's back was turned. "He's been living up in his American mansion for the last two weeks."

"He better bring back some souvenirs…" Souta got back to licking the bowl.

It was typical really. Souta had yet to meet the richest, most popular guy in the world and already he had the big brother vibe going for him. Kagome brushed a hand over his head fondly and hopped down off her stool to go find something interesting to do until dinner was ready.

No sooner had she stepped out of the kitchen than three rather wet blurs hurtled past her.

"Jiro! Give me back my inhaler!"

"Why?! You don't need it! You just stole it off some nerd!"

"Hey! I'm not a nerd!"

The triplets did nothing but play in the pool when they were around. Once again, their father and his secretary had gone off on another one of their 'top secret' business trips and thus dumped all the little darlings on the villa staff. Kagome had to wonder what Sesshomaru and his secretary did on these 'business trips'… they went so often and for such a long time that the triplets were practically living full-time at their uncle's place.

And they were having a rather sinister influence over Souta too… much to Mrs Higurashi's disapproval. After all, there were only so many times Souta could watch the three boys push unsuspecting passers-by (usually Miroku) into the pool in the morning when it was at its coldest without joining in.

However, there was at least one perk of having Sesshomaru's children in the villa. Besides not having to worry about trespassing  paparazzi (chasing men with cameras was the triplets' speciality) the villa was also graced with their younger sister.

Sakura was a living doll. There was no other way to describe her.

"Miss Kagome…?"

Kagome looked down at the small girl with a fisted hand in Kagome's skirt. She was like a miniature version of her father – white, chic hair and sharp angled face, but there was a child-like softness about her…

Probably due to all the ribbons and bows Mrs Higurashi liked to dress her up in.

"Yes?" Kagome looked expectantly at her.

The little girl was hopping from one foot to another in the classic "can't hold it in" dance. "I really need to go toilet…"

Her appearance was where all the similarities with her father ended. Despite her ability to give the perfect deadpan expression at the goriest of films, she was as cute as a button.

"Well… can't you go by yourself?" Kagome asked.

"If I go alone, the clown in the skylight will get me…" Sakura whined.

Kagome sighed and took Sakura's small, moist hand in her own. "Ok then. Let's go together."

**~*~**

"Here's a picture of him on his twenty-first birthday, last month." Kikyo handed Inuyasha the A4 sized photograph as the limo bounced along the bumps in the road.

"Disgusting…" Inuyasha wrinkled his nose at the perfect face staring back at him. "Why are you showing me these? Are you just trying to crush my self-esteem?"

"And here's a picture of him on his eighteenth birthday three years ago." Kikyo smirked slightly as she handed him the last picture.

Inuyasha's eyes widened. "My god! That nose!"

Kikyo folded her arms primly. "He had a major overhaul of plastic surgery when he was nineteen to get a face to match his voice." She raised her chin. "Looks like our Latino lover boy is actually-"

"-As ugly as sin." Inuyasha couldn't have been more delighted. "Kikyo, you wonderful girl. Two months on holiday and I get back to this wonderful present!"

"He also has a lot of unpaid speed tickets and goes bar hopping every week with at least five prostitutes in tow." Kikyo informed him.

"Wow, that's more than I-" Inuyasha broke off under Kikyo's scrutiny. "Um… would ever _dream_ of doing."

Kikyo rolled her eyes before turning to the tinted windows to watch the approaching villa in the distance. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"What?" 

"Inviting Kagome Higurashi's family into the villa and making said girl your personal stylist." Kikyo slanted an unreadable look towards him. "An interesting move. I would have made her famous if I were you… she has an unusual talent with the piano. She could have gone far."

"She doesn't want to go any further than the garden gate." Inuyasha shrugged. "If that's what she wants, then it's not for me to exploit her talent."

"That sounds unusually wise coming from you…" Kikyo frowned.

"I'm an unusually wise person, Kikyo." he quipped.

"Of course you are."

"So." Inuyasha cast the photographs back onto his agent's lap. "How do you plan to control the Higurashi situation?"

"Well, seeing as how the tabloids will eventually get wind that Kagome Higurashi is now a permanent resident in your villa, there are naturally going to be a few eyebrows raised." Kikyo demonstrated with her eyebrow, but that probably wasn't intentional… "We'll just say that she found her calling as a stylist and since you needed one – you chose her. That will be all. We'll also say that her mother is a superb chef so we took her on as well, in the kitchens."

"That won't be enough to satisfy their lust for rumours…" Inuyasha reminded idly.

"Persistence, my dear Inuyasha." Kikyo brushed off his concern. "The media will lose interest after a few weeks if we give them no indication that there is anything more to the situation. So no going on public dates with her for a while – and if you marry her, it has to be a secret wedding. Besides, I'm not having any superstar bachelor of mine settling down before he's even hit his prime… at least not publicly."

Inuyasha blinked at her. "What on earth makes you think that there is anything between Kagome and me? And marriage? Puh-lease."

"Maybe because you bought her an engagement ring in Venice?"

Inuyasha's ears drooped slightly. "You saw that, huh?"

"I also saw that you're a cheap bastard."

"What?!"

"Inuyasha, you're currently the twenty-eighth richest person in the world. The eleventh richest man and THE richest hanyou. With your kind of money, you could have bought her something exquisite. A real blue diamond – or better yet – a _red _diamond. You could have gotten her twenty-four carrot gold, a black pearl necklace, a whole dress made of emeralds. But what did you get her?"

"A silver ring. What's your point?" Inuyasha rebuked her harshly.

"At least tell me you were ripped off for it. I'd hate to think you spent any less than fifty thousand on her…."

"It was a nice ring! I don't care how much it cost and – more importantly – neither will Kagome. You know how snotty she is about material stuff like that…"

"Yeah, she's a real snob, isn't she?" Kikyo gave him a stupefied look.

"Exactly." He gave a decisive nod. "I go for personality, not price tag."

"Ok then." Kikyo folded her arms. "Let's have a look at this ring with more character than zeros."

It took a minute or two of rifling around the various jackets, coats and bags that lay strewn around the limo. Eventually he found it, in the pocket of his hand luggage beside Kikyo. He knelt down to unzip the compartment, and by that time the limo was already slowing down outside the villa steps.

"Ah ha!" he announced as he pulled the little velvet box out of the pocket and presented it to Kikyo with a flourish. "What do you think?"

"It's a little plain." she remarked, scanning her critical gaze over the double entwined silver bands. "Not exactly remarkable, and I fail to see it's 'character'."

"But admit it…" he chided. "You like it, right?"

Kikyo smiled slightly as the limo door was suddenly pulled open. "I do."

"OH MY GOD!!"

Kagome's scream startled both the superstar and his agent into snapping alarmed eyes on the girl. She stood on the lowest step with one hand clamped over her mouth while the other was employed and pointing at the pair in horror.

Inuyasha blinked, trying to understand why she was so shocked. He looked down at himself – kneeling on one knee in front of a sitting Kikyo  - and then he looked to Kikyo – who was in the middle of having a ring presented to her. Oops.

Kikyo had cottoned onto what it looked like long before he had. With a roll of her eyes and a flip of her hair, she got out of the limo abruptly. "Oh please." she admonished Kagome before marching up the steps into the villa, in the process of getting out her phone to chat to someone more intelligent.

"It's not what it looks like!" Inuyasha yelled as he snapped the box shut and hid it behind his back like that would erase the problem.

"This looks like you bought me some kind of engagement ring and was showing it to Kikyo to see if she liked it!" Kagome yelled back, still horrified.

"Oh…" The volume of his voice died somewhat. "Then it's exactly what it looks like."

Kagome still didn't lose her doe-caught-in-headlights stare. "And what the hell are you wearing?!"

"Huh?" He looked down at himself. Beige pants, dark blue button up shirt. Smart but casual… so what on earth was her problem?

"You're wearing black shoes with beige!" she pointed, horrendously offended. "What's the matter with you?! Brown would have been so much better!"

"Hey – I've been living without a stylist for the last two months!" he shouted defensively. "How am I supposed to know what goes with what?!"

"Are you telling me you can't get dressed properly without someone there to tell you what to wear?" She gaped at him.

"Precisely."

"Then I'm being underpaid!" she declared, folding her arms.

"Wait! You haven't seen my socks yet!" he told her as he hiked up the leg of his pants, as if incredibly proud of the fact that his socks were-

"Pink." Kagome blinked. "Well, at least they're baby pink… not neon pink…"

With a sigh, Inuyasha stepped out of the limo onto the gravel before the girl. "This is one kick ass of a 'hello', you know."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kagome hopped off the last step and ran forward to embrace him, squeezing tightly and letting him swing her gently. "I missed you! I was so worried as well – especially when I saw how heartbroken you looked when Joi dumped you."

"She didn't really dump me." he mumbled over her shoulder.

"You still looked really pathetic though." she told him. "And Souta has been dying to meet you, plus, no matter how many times we point you out to Grandpa on the Tv, he still has no idea who you are or what you look like, so you're going to have to wow him too and then… hey…" she trailed off as she began stiffening in his arms.

"What?" He pulled back to look down at her.

"I smell smoke."

Crap.

"Um…" Inuyasha flailed for some decent kind of excuse. "You know Kikyo… and her fetish for wackybaccy…"

Kagome drew back with a stern glare. "Inuyasha – you've been smoking again, haven't you?

"Might have been…"

And so began the trend of many arguments to come that marked the end of an addiction. 

**~*~**

"Man, he isn't even through the door and she's already nagging him." Miroku sighed over his beer in the security room. "Typical girlfriend…"

Sango stopped twisting her hair around her pen to look up at the screen that viewed the front of the villa. Low and behold, there was their employer being berated by his stylist for some reason or another. "They might as well just get married for all the way they act around each other. They look like they've been married for years, anyway."

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder…" Miroku reeled off yet another of the lines he'd picked up off a fortune cookie.

"Presence working the opposite way, of course." Sango watched the arguing couple critically. "Go on Kagome, give him what for…"

"Oh, look!" Miroku cut her off. "They're making up."

"They're making _out_." Sango said bluntly, cocking her head as she picked up her glass of water. "Boy, they're fast…"

No sooner had that slipped from her lips than the door burst open and their tyrant returned.

"Two months," Kikyo began. "I left you two in charge and look what happens."

Sango and Miroku both gave her appealing looks. "What happens?" they chorused quietly.

"Nothing, apparently." Kikyo frowned. "I'm sure there's some part of this place that has been partially destroyed and hastily patched up in time for our return." Speaking of destruction to building integrity… "Where are the triplets?"

"Playing in the pool with Souta Higurashi." Miroku pointed to the pool cam.

"Sakura?"

"Playing 'Pony' with Bess and ten body guards in the gardens." Sango answered primly.

"Cook?"

"Uh… cooking?"

"Any tabloid infiltrations of any sort while I was gone?"

"Well," Miroku stroked his chin. "There was this one guy who managed to scale the cliffs with his bare hands, his camera and a  tent – never mind how – but he got about as far as the pool and the triplets before he came running to security, begging to be released back into the wild."

"No explosions?" Kikyo narrowed her eyes.

The two members of the entourage shook their heads.

"Kidnappings? Bombs? Maiming? Shootings? Police investigations?"

They shook their heads again.

"Good." Kikyo swept a brief gaze over the monitor depicting the two reuniting lovebirds still dawdling on the steps before gaining a cool smile. "Keep up the good work." she told them evenly before sweeping out to prey on more unsuspecting workers.

Sango cocked an eyebrow at Miroku as she settled back down in her seat with her drink to her lips. "What a joy it is going to be to have _her _back with us." she murmured.

"Here's to merry hell!" Miroku beamed and offered his beer in a toast. Sango grinned back and clinked her glass with his bottle. They both took a large swig each and crashed their drinks down in unison.

"Come on." Sango gripped his shoulder. "Let's welcome him back."

The End. 

…

I swear.


End file.
